Teenage Pregnancy
Teenage Pregnancy was seen as an issue where girls who reached their reproductive ages who are also
sexually active, thereby when getting involved in sexual activities and they are then surprised to be
pregnant. The topic is made up of two words, teenage and pregnancy so they would be defined and be
given a common meaning. According to the Oxford English dictionary (2010) teenage is defined as. “
Denoting a person between the age of thirteen to nineteen years of age.” And pregnancy is defined as.
“A progression of stages from conception to birth.” Both terms can now be defined as being pregnant
between the age of thirteen to nineteen. “Every year, an estimated 21 million girls aged 15–19 years in
developing regions become pregnant and approximately 12 million of them give birth.” WHO 2015).
Teenage pregnancy was seen as a sign of breach of cultural and modern laws as girls were to formally
handed to their grooms through cultural practices and initiations or wedded to their grooms. Today it is
seen lightly by the growing population and as a norm for such ages, however others may be discriminated,
which may lead to self isolation and socially hindered. In this literature, teenage pregnancy will be
discussed in a way that how it has impacted individuals, families, communities and the country as a
whole. Will also be discussing on some factors that drives the young people to get themselves into having
unprotected sex and ways to minimize the risk of teenage pregnancy.
Firstly, teenage pregnancy is common nowadays and has had impacts on many young people, in this
situation it often suppresses the mental and emotional aspects of individuals. Most teenagers get pregnant
before marriage, where they go around with their friends or themselves and have unprotected sex, under
some kinds of influences or for pleasure. Since they know that they are young and free, they can do
anything to explore their interests, and also at this age they are intensely sexually active. After going
through all their wills or by influences, girls finally realize that they are pregnant. Being pregnant before
marriage is a situation that leads to severe self isolation and depression, as for girls especially, they have
to leave school or part time jobs for they cannot control their emotions that suppress their psychological
aspect of life. “In addition to higher rates of postpartum depression, teenage mothers have higher rates of
depression. They also have higher rates of suicidal ideation than their peers who aren't mothers. Teen mothers are
more likely to experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than other teenage women, as well.” Nall,
(2016).As for developing countries, education is very expensive, where some parents sacrifice their jobs
to put their children in a classroom where he can learn and get educated. However if the daughter is
pregnant or the son has impregnated a girl, both of these two young people are affected in a way that
they are psychologically disturbed so they can not be able to do better in their education. Most of the
times girls are expelled from school, or they leave school for they are psychologically disturbed and also
they are not yet married, it is shameful to be part of the institution. However some institutions suspend
females who are pregnant with their partners, for they will have to get married or not depends. This also
contributes to emotional instability of parents guardians and at some point sponsors will not feel like to
support them for a second time. “Some 3.9 million unsafe abortions occur each year to girls aged 15-19 in
developing regions. Adolescent pregnancy can also have negative mental, social and economic effects on girls,
their families and communities. Unmarried pregnant adolescents may face stigma or rejection by parents and peers
as well as threats of violence.” Plan International (2023). Then in communities where there are victims of
teenage pregnancies, some parents and guardians or families with one or no children adopt these children
born from teenage. This is in some instances supports and elevate the esteem of the teenagers to have
another chance in the society. However, these children have born with a lot of depressions and different
feelings and have been psychologically affected before they were born. Also raising such children is hard
and are a problem to the family, they have very little level of intelligence, most of the times they are sick.
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When this population grows up, the society is weak, a weak society does not contribute effectively to the
economy of the country, they do not contribute to the human resource of the country, they get involved
in crimes and social issues grow in an alarming rate and therefore the country is also weak. Then it is
mostly said that the country has attitude issues related to law and order issues which paints a bad
reputation for the country. Secondly, as today’s generation we are not like our parents and grandparents
where they never grew up in a society that has modern technologies, and too much western influences.
The present generation of young people are able to use different types of modern technologies and
western influences to do all their activities of daily living like smart phones, musical devices and
computers. Only a few parents restrict their children to use their phone and computers correctly and also
sexually educate them. But for most others there is no restriction, how they control their lives is up to
them. Yutenglish and Setiawan, (2020), found out that. “The current generation of adolescence is the
population with the highest internet access, which is at risk of being exposed to pornography more easily. Exposure
to pornography can have a negative influence on adolescent development .It can lead adolescents to risky sexual
behaviour and increased reproductive health problems such as early pregnancy rates, illegal abortions, STIs, and
HIV, currently dominated by adolescence.” There are other most influential factors upon using these devices,
that drives young people to get engaged in sexual activities. For example a group of teenagers may take
alcoholic beverages, listening to some types of music and songs, where these can be the triggers at some
instances. However there are also some risk factors that may lead to teenage pregnancy. Like living with
other relatives where there is no social security like no one cares about a teenager’s whereabouts, their
actions or living in boarding schools. Other risk factors are like living in settlements where alcohol and
drugs addicts may rape a teenage girl or peer pressure or influences from the surrounding environment
where teenagers sometimes make money and earn living from prostitution. Different dressing types also
may become a risk factor, whereby the female teenagers wear partly torn or small shorts showing part of
their bodies. While looking at all these factors both contributing and risk factors we can control our
behaviors and also our friends and families who are unaware of their actions, where we may think they
are going to be the victims of teenage pregnancy.
Finally, teenage pregnancy is a common problem in our country, but how are we going to minimize and
stop these problems? When talking about teenage pregnancy, it most of the times an unintended
pregnancy or an unwanted pregnancy that occurs in a teenager’s life. If this is to be minimized or stopped,
we need professionals and also parents to be engaged in this sector to make awareness and give health
education. “ The future health of the family depends on the adolescents, nurses are the front liners to
have contact with the adolescents and may have the opportunity know their skills, and abilities and help
them to solve problems. Nurses have to work with the teenagers and families to help prevent alcohol and
drugs abuse, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. More specifically nurses can help
clarify and provide information about sex and pregnancy and ways to handle stress that is useful for
adolescents.” Elizabeth M (1990). Today’s population should be educated on the risk of sexually
transmitted infections (STIs) where they can have some boundaries in being engaged in sexual activities.
The young people should also be educated on ways to do away with pregnancy, like the contraceptive
methods that we teach mothers to space children and bear certain number of children for a better, safe
and healthy family. Since young people are able to have sex and unplanned or unwanted pregnancies are
becoming more common, we should advise interested teenagers to take contraceptives to prevent
pregnancies. It is our duty as nursing officers to explain the risks and respect their choices, to choose or
they are already knowledgeable of sexuality so they may follow what is right. Young people who grew
up in a church are also have to be educated spiritually on sexual immortality including sex education
where they can understand their anatomy and it functions properly. “We call on governments to strengthen
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national health systems, implement comprehensive education on sexuality and relationships in and out of schools,
and provide affordable, safe contraception to tackle the root causes of adolescent pregnancy. We also demand
governments do more to support pregnant girls and young mothers to continue and complete their education.” Plan
International (2023). After all it is everybody’s business to make sure that our young people are living a
healthy and happy aging period with different experiences till the adulthood is reached.
To sum up, girls must be able to make their own decisions about their bodies and futures, understand the,
mental, social and emotional effects of teenage pregnancy, and have access to appropriate healthcare
services and comprehensive sexuality education. Teenagers have many challenges that they face,
especially when getting sexually active where the body is producing more sex hormones which increases
their emotions to involve in sexual activities. Hence, there are factors that drives them to get involved in
sexual activities. Parents should be the most important people to educate their children about sexual
health in the house, if Parents fail then health workers can step in to make awareness on sexual
representative health, churches can teach their youth population as well. We can provide counseling to
teenagers for a better, stronger and healthier individual, family, community and the country as a whole.
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Reference list
Rachel Null 2016, What are the Effects of Teenage Pregnancy, Healthline, viewed on the 20th March
2023, available at <https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/teenage-pregnancy-effects>.
Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition, 2010, Oxford University Press
World Health Organization, 2022, Adolescent Pregnancy, Zambia Statistics Agency Ministry, Zambia, viewed on
the 26th March 2023, available at <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pre>.
Plan International 2022, Teenage Pregnancy, Plan International Global Website, viewed on the 26th
March 2023 available at <https://plan-international.org>.
Wiwi Yunengsih and Agus Setiawan, 2020, Journal of Public Health Research Contribution of
Pornographic Exposure and Addiction to Risky Sexual Behavior in Adolescents, Faculty of Nursing,
Universitas Indonesia, Java.
Elizabeth M. Varcarolis, 1990, Foundation of Psychiatric Mental Nursing, WB Saunders, Philadelphia.
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