|
During the last quarter
century, there has been an overall decline in the teenage pregnancy
rate of the world, perhaps reflecting the availability of
contraceptives, and the increased awareness of the risks of
unprotected sex brought about by the AIDS epidemic. The social stigma
that once attended out-of-wedlock pregnancy may have diminished;
however, the risks of serious health consequences remain for babies
born to mothers still in their teens. Children of teenagers are more
likely to have low birth weights, and to suffer the associated health
problems.
In 2002, 11% of all the births in the United States belonged to the
category of age of years 15-19. The majority of births of teenager
with 67% are to 18 - 19 years - olds. Teenage pregnancy also has
economic consequences. Childbearing may curtail education and thereby
reduce a young woman’s employment prospects in a job market that
requires ever higher levels of training.
In the past, more teenage pregnancies ended in a live birth than in an
abortion. However, in 1997, with the decline in live births to teens,
abortion became the most common outcome of teenage pregnancy. This had
been the case for younger teens in most years since 1993. The
pregnancy of teenager has many difficulties and consequences. The
babies supported with the mothers of teenager tend to have the lower
weights of birth and are to die in the first year of the life that a
baby supported with a mother more than 20.
The proportion of babies with low birth weights born to teens is 21
percent higher than the proportion for mothers age 20-24.8 Low birth
weight raises the probabilities of infant death, blindness, deafness,
chronic respiratory problems, mental retardation, mental illness, and
cerebral palsy. In addition, low birth weight doubles the chances that
a child will later be diagnosed as having dyslexia, hyperactivity, or
another disability.
Despite having more health problems than the children of older
mothers, the children of teen mothers receive less medical care and
treatment. In his or her first 14 years, the average child of a teen
mother visits a physician and other medical providers an average of
3.8 times per year, compared with 4.3 times for a child of older child
bearers.
Inadequate parenting
Children born to teen mothers are at higher risk of poor parenting
because their mothers - and often their fathers as well - are
typically too young to master the demanding job of being a parent.
Still growing and developing themselves, teen mothers are often unable
to provide the kind of environment that infants and very young
children require for optimal development.
Children of teens are 50 percent more likely to repeat a grade; they
perform much worse on standardized tests.
There are nearly half a million children born to teen mothers each
year. Most of these mothers are unmarried, and many will end up poor
and on welfare. Each year the federal government alone spends about $9
billion to help families that began with a teenage birth.
|
