Teenage Pregnancy Essay Sample

As children transcend from childhood to adolescence, many anticipate this particular stage of development with optimism and joy. People have been made aware that this developmental stage is actually a critical stage since physical, mental, emotional, and social factors interplay to significantly impact and influence distinct personal growth. Despite the high hopes for positivism as adolescents look forward to a bright future, some teen-agers who meet diverse challenges in this crucial period turn out encountering new experiences that ultimately pave the way for changing the rest of their lives. One of the challenges met by many of teen-aged girls, even in contemporary times, is adolescent pregnancy. The current discourse hereby aims to present the causes and effects of teen-aged pregnancy from one’s personal critical thinking of the issue.
One strongly believes that an important contributory factor that increases the preponderance of teen-ages to engage in irresponsible sex is the apparent need for affection. It is during this particular stage of development where adolescents establish new bonds of friendships and get to be exposed to heightened physical and emotional changes. As such, hormonal changes bring out feelings of desire, love, need for belonging and acceptance, and the fear of rejection. Thus, any newly established relationships, especially with a special loved one, could evidently lead to experimentation on physical pleasures and sexual risk taking. Teen-agers at this stage of development are known to be more explorative, keen to experience new things, and are bold enough to take risks.
Another cause of teen-aged pregnancy is lack of education on matters pertaining to sex and reproduction. In some developed countries, sexual education could form part of the secondary education curriculum to enhance the students’ awareness on the subject matter and to provide appropriate guidelines to prevent unwanted pregnancy or in avoiding contracting sexual diseases. Unfortunately, in some low-income societies, teen-agers are not accorded with the opportunity to attend secondary level of education, and thus, are precluded from enhancing awareness and knowledge regarding safe and responsible sex.
Concurrently, one is also convinced that still another cause of adolescent pregnancy is the erosion of values of chastity and adherence to traditional beliefs that emphasize the philosophy of reserving sex after marriage. The liberalization of values have created a generation of regarding engaging in sex a natural part of life, regardless of age or level of maturity. Some contributory factors that exacerbate perception on sex are easy access to sex-oriented movies or videos in different media; as well as the peer pressure from friends who regard engaging in sexual activities as fad or going with the flow.
Unfortunately, teen-agers who get pregnant irresponsibly face different challenging consequences. One of the effects of adolescent pregnancy is serious health repercussions for both the teen-ager and the child. There are reported incidents of higher tendencies for abortions in teenaged pregnancies; especially for those who intend to keep the unwanted pregnancy secret from their families or loved ones. This also happens when the teen-aged mother’s partner relays intention to have the child aborted due to unpreparedness to assume responsibility as the father of the child. In addition, unwanted pregnancies also allegedly result to stillbirths or exhibiting compromised health conditions. These could be due to the stressful condition that the teen-aged mother was exposed to during the period of pregnancy; as well as lack of maternal care and support from families and loved ones.
Another effect of teen-aged pregnancy is the social stigma that the teen-aged mother could potentially be exposed. In some conservative societies, particularly in predominantly Catholic nations, adolescent pregnancies are regarded as a violation of the doctrines of the Catholic faith. It is taught that sex should only be undertaken between two married couples; and as such, having sex outside the bonds of matrimony is totally prohibited. Not only would the teen-aged mother be subjected to social ridicule; but also the nuclear family members who could be regarded as ineffective in instilling the traditional values expected by society.
Finally, adolescent pregnancy is deemed influential in affecting the life of the teen-aged mother in terms of pursuing plans for the future. With an unexpected child at such delicate stage of development, teen-aged mothers could view the experience as immensely challenging. Some could defer continuing education to attend to the needs of the child. This would therefore be immensely difficult especially for adolescents who belong to the low-income families or those who were totally unsupported by the father of the child. Finding ways and means to support the child and oneself adds undue stress and strain in life – for the young mother, her family, and to the extremely unsuspecting child born from a precariously difficult situation.
In sum, teen-aged pregnancy posed diverse challenges to the mother and child, as well as the teen-agers’ family members; as presented in the causes and effects that allegedly lead to this condition. For some teen-agers, the experience could be deemed life changing and it is up to them to turn the tides in their favor. Despite the challenges, family members and social groups have proposed various ways to prevent and address teen-aged pregnancies. Hopefully, more effective interventions would minimize these incidents or ultimately put a stop to this dilemma.