Answer 2 for NRS 434 Describe various risk factors or precursors to adolescent pregnancy

Answer 2 for NRS 434 Describe various risk factors or precursors to adolescent pregnancy

Adolescent years are meant for discovery of self, but also understanding about making one’s own choices. Adolescent female and male begin to present with changes to their body, but also develop changes in his or her hormones that further increase their attraction to the opposite sex or both sexes (Curtis, 2015). It is important to teach sex education at this stage, but also providing care and a safe environment if pregnancy occurs.

According to the CDC, “approximately 22 of every 1,000 births are born to teenage mothers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2017a). Though this does not seem like an alarming number, many of these teen pregnancies are to mothers of low socioeconomic standing. According to Falkner, “Children born to teenage mothers often have increased rates of poor performance in school, including increased dropout rates, health problems, incarceration, unemployment, and teenage pregnancy” (2018). This age group requires a significant amount of education and support to promote proper fetal development. Though various risk factors associated with teen pregnancy are physical, there are far more negative socioeconomic outcomes that come about. The children born to a young mother also feel the effects of the negative stigma towards teen pregnancy. According to Youth.gov, “

One resource for expecting mothers that are still in her adolescent years is youth.gov. Girls that get pregnant in high school have a 50% chance of receiving her high school diploma. Further, of the 50% that do not graduate, only 30% will pursue a GED. These numbers are greatly increased in adolescent girls who do not get pregnant in high school (90% graduation). Youth.gov provides education to all ages but can provide resources to worried or frightened teens who are expecting. Here in Franklin County Virginia, there are plenty of resources available for expecting mothers of all ages. Councilors at the high school, Woman’s clinic of Franklin County, Non-profit prenatal clinic are all available resources.

References:

Adolescent pregnancy. (2020, January 31). WHO | World Health Organization.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy

Centers for Disease Control. (2018). Community wide initiatives.

https://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/projects-initiatives/communitywide.html

Curtis, A. C. (2015). Defining adolescence. Journal of Adolescent and Family Health 7(2).