In this blog I want to discuss teenage pregnancy. This issue is very old problem and although there is sex education in schools now, it is still problem. lots of the early pregnancies are unplanned. Here some sad statistics: 70% of pregnancies end in abortion (very often - in the later stages),15% - miscarriages, 15% - giving birth. What is early pregnancy? Early or teenage pregnancy is considered to be state of pregnancy in teenage girls age 13 to 19 years. Teenage girls often have sex because of the desire "to be no worse than others". Another cause is promotion of sex on TV. According to the survey, only one third of sexually active teenagers use condoms
Very often girls do not know that that they are pregnant until it is too late. Their first reaction is shock and panic. They don’t believe that it happened. At early age it is hard for girls to deal with new problem. They become depressed. They do not know if they have to keep a child or not. It is very important to have someone a girl can trust, like mother, but girls often afraid to tell parents and problem becomes worse.
Teenage pregnancy has some risks for health, but I believe social risk is even worse. Pregnant girls often face condemnation from community. Because of early pregnancy girls drop out of school, and risking their future career.
So how to prevent teenage pregnancy? I believe the biggest influence is TV. For instance, there is a TV show “Teenage Mom” on “MTV” channel. Maybe show authors wanted to show the problems that teenage mom faces and thought that the show will help teenagers to avoid early pregnancy, but I think the effect was opposite. Teenage girls watch the show and they think that if they become pregnant they can be famous. Also if something is shown on TV it is considered normal, so because of this show many girls think that teenage moms are normal. There are some other shows that even worse, e.g. when girls watch “Kendra” they dream to get to “Playboy” show and become rich and famous.
So unless TV changes and stops telling our children that teenage sex is normal, teenage pregnancy will be always the problem.
This topic is one that always brings many questions to wonder upon. There isn't a defined age limit or restriction for when a female can have a child and be healthy after the delivery, but there are numerous incidents where an elder woman who brings a baby to life has a great risk of having psychological problems after the baby. Since adolescents are not fully developed, would the growth of a baby effect the teen's growth that is scheduled to happen in the years to come? I guess it depends on the genes but I am assuming that the chances of disorders of the teen's later life are relatively higher as compared to someone who was not a teen mom.
ReplyDeleteNear the time of the 50's Marilyn Monroe was seen as a sexual figure. Now, some people see her as an icon. Not to take away her credibility as a "sexual figure," but we have grown accustomed to idolizing people with great and different roles in life that her stunning icon isn't out of this world. Now, like you said, we portray people on Playboy as someone to be looked up towards. I doubt that we will ever take this view of a "higher" life away from teens and even children, but we can help in other ways to enhance the mindset and goals of our youth. We need to somehow display to the young ones that what we see on TV isn't what usually happens in the real world. Harder said than done..
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