Teen Pregnancy
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Teen Pregnancy
I. Alarming Reality of Teen Age Pregnancy
Any under aged girl becoming pregnant with a baby is defined as teenage pregnancy. Many women according to science are ascribed in their teenage years until the age of 20; however, this definition is restricted to those under the age threshold of legally mandated adulthood that puts it in the age of 18 especially in most of the United States. In most of the rest of the world, the age is pegged at 16.
Girls can get pregnant and give birth in spite of not reaching full fertility until much later in their adulthood. However, many fall in to teen pregnancy due to exploration and the intense effect of the persuasion of mass media.
The average age of the first menstrual period known as menarche in the United States is 12.5. Furthermore, this biological age of menarche has been declining and is continually doing so. Whether fertility may lead to early pregnancy because of varying factors, the prominence of teenage pregnancy around the world is an accepted and sorry fact. It revolves around the range of 143 per 1000 in sub-Saharan Africa to 2.9 per 1000 in South Korea.
The risks of pregnant teenagers also face the same issues that their women counterparts aged in their 20s and 30s. The only difference is the additional medical concerns that the much younger mother who are under 15 years of age will experience. Complications may arise for both the teenage mother and child because the development of the female body is not yet ready for the process and trauma of child bearing.
Statistics that point to teenage pregnancy as a social issue in first world countries are attributed to low educational levels, high rates of poverty and the effects of mass media. Also, the consummation of sex resulting in teenage pregnancy which usually happens outside of marriage is considered a social stigma in many communities and cultures.
For these reasons, there have been many studies and campaigns which attempt to uncover the causes and limit...
- Submitted by: iskumbro
- Date Submitted: 08/06/2007 11:10 PM
- Category: Social Issues
- Words: 1394
- Pages: 6
- Views: 1166
- Rank: 21848