The Effects of Teenage Pregnancy

The Effects Pregnancy Have on Teens Teen pregnancy has many damaging effects on teenagers. Education may be put on hold when a teen becomes pregnant. For example, Medical complications often occur in pregnant teenagers. Having a baby is expensive, financial difficulty may arise during a teen pregnancy or after the baby is born. Therefore, teen pregnancy leads to serious effects on the mother. Teenage pregnancy not only has terrible effects, but it can cause serious problems in teenage life. Teenage pregnancy can alter the path of any teenage mother's life. The teenage mother will not only responsible for herself but also for another person to take care of. Nutrition while pregnant is very important for both mother and baby. For example, the teen mother will have to take prenatal vitamins, nutrients, and minerals, eat healthy food to avoid unnecessary weight gain, only odd 300 calories to an already healthy and balanced daily calorie count. She also needs to drink over 8 bottles of water each day, so her baby is hydrated.

The teenage mother needs approximately about eight hours of sleep each night. Women undergo psychological changes, faces enormous stress, and self-esteem problems. Intensify stress and nervousness during pregnancy affect a baby's physical and psychological development. Psychology stress is associated with such harmful results as preterm births. Teen mothers can also experience the costs of intensifying stress such as post-natal depression and obesity. Pregnant teens and their babies are at higher risk of health problems than pregnant women who are older.

Pregnant teens have a higher risk of getting high blood pressure. It is also called pregnancy-induced hypertension. Pregnant teens may also be at higher risk of postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is depression that occurs after childbirth. It is treatable. According to Dr. Gaither, this illness affects about 10% of new moms. Statistically proven children born to teenagers experience more struggles during their lives. Some of these struggles comprise not having proper education and have behavioral and physical health problems. These effects can be passed down from generation to generation if the cycle is not broken. The pregnant teen dropout rate in the U.S. is distressing.

In terms of the adolescent pregnancy rate, the U.S. ranks among the top in comparison to other countries (Centers for Disease [CDC], 2013). 86,000 teens ages 15 to 19 get pregnant in a year and 70% of pregnant teens drop out of high school. Hispanic and black females are more likely to be among the teen population to drop out of school while pregnant. Because of unplanned Pregnancy, only 50 percent of teen mothers receive a high school diploma related to 90 percent of female students who did not have a baby as an adolescent. [CDC], 2013). Some of the most important things to help teen parents are information and support. One of the main troubles teenage mothers have is not having is employment to purchase the necessities required for taking care of their baby or young child.

Effects of Teenage Pregnancy on Education 

The United States has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy costing the country more than $7 billion per year, according to Family First Aid. Only half of the pregnant teen girls who drop out of high school are employed, and those who are employed make less than those who finish high school. The medical costs of According to Child Trends, researchers working for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy in 2006 estimated the total public cost of teenagers having a baby cost from about $10,000 to $15,000 just for all the hospital costs including delivery, tests, and prenatal care visits. Because of these costs, the teen mother will pass these costs on to their parents, or in some case, the teen mother would have to work more, this will prevent her from spending adequate time with her baby. In summary, teen pregnancy has negative effects on teens. Because education may be put on hold. Young moms may lack at supporting their child financially while pregnant. Teen moms are at a higher risk of health problems. Teenage mothers face many problems but they can be overcome with commitment, support, and dedication.

Works Cited

1. Mawer, C. (1999). Preventing teenage pregnancies, supporting teenage mothers. BMJ, 318(7200), 1713-1714. Doi: 10.1136/bmj.318.7200.1713
2. Costs of Teen Pregnancy /Pregnant Teen Help. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.pregnantteenhelp.org/facts/costs-of-teen-pregnanct
3. Cdc.gov. (2018). About Teen Pregnancy| Teen Pregnancy | Reproductive Health | CDC. [online] Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm [Accessed 23 Jul. 2018].
4. Gaither, K. (2018). TEENAGE PREGNANCY. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/2mkkz8qn36nh/teenage-pregnanct/

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