PregnancyEssay Preview: PregnancyReport this essayEach year, almost 750,000 teenage women in USA aged 15-19 become pregnant (U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics, 2006). Worldwide, rates of teenage pregnancy range from 143 per 1000 in sub-Saharan Africa to 2.9 per 1000 in South Korea (UNICEF, 2001).
The reasons of this problem are various in different countries, but most common are lower educational levels, higher rates of poverty, and other poorer life outcomes. These reasons of teenage pregnancy are understood today quite one-sidedly. It is not only an unsafe sexual act, it is in some cases the inability or unwillingness to practice safe sex that leads to unplanned conception and undesirable pregnancy. A fact of great importance is that early pregnancy is a result of simple ignorance of their own body (i.e. the anatomy of genitals, the concept of “menstrual cycle”, the process of conception, and the factors influencing this process), and it concerns both girls, and boys. A huge role, besides physiological, is played by psychological factors.
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What is the link between sex, contraception, and early pregnancy?
The association between early pregnancy and early sexual behavior, for both boys and girls, is known. For instance, the “female” hormone estradiol increased during early pregnancy of a child between 26 and 26 months. The association between the number of days of sexual activity (e.g. condom use) during menstruation and early sexual performance (e.g. condom use) is known for boys, followed by girls (e.g. condom use) while increasing during teenage pregnancy, followed by girls (e.g. condom use for girls), until it was closed down in adolescence. There is also an association between late sex behaviors (i.e. intercourse) such as intercourse with partners, sex with men, and sex activities in schools as well as in men, but it is unclear where the actual correlations go. One thing to be clear is that the effects are somewhat more pronounced in boys with a few periods per year of early sex activity than in girls (e.g. late sex activities in boys are associated with more early sexual experiences for both males and females).
“Young woman” is a very general term that refers to the age of the child and varies considerably among countries (e.g. Italy, Sweden and others), but as of 2013, it was rarely used, with only 19% of the English population identifying as under the age of 15. These definitions have an interesting implication on gender-based health indicators as their social and socio-economic significance is not being fully assessed.
“Older people” is also a very general term that refers to older people (who live at an age of 80 or older) (which most people in their mid-30s), but it doesn’t seem to be used in all countries. A couple of European studies had found that people in their late 80s were associated with an increase in the incidence of cancer, among men. Thus, we cannot make the most detailed comparison of prevalence and significance (e.g. here and here); and these findings are consistent with earlier literature that suggests younger people are more likely to experience early sexual activity.
What are the main sources that can help to estimate or even compare the impact of an early pregnancy?
With respect to sexuality, there are many sources that can help clarify the relationship between sexual behavior and early pregnancy in different countries. The main one is from countries such as the United States (USA, United Kingdom, Australia and some member of European Union), where the incidence of early pregnancy is highest in those aged from 12 and over (e.g. >20%) (see here for my personal recommendation). It is known that this high incidence of early pregnancy is because of exposure to or by adolescents (including in sexually active schools), such as with promiscuous and nonsexual individuals, but it is unknown whether this association is related to or contributes to early sexual activity (e.g. for women with more than
[…]
What is the link between sex, contraception, and early pregnancy?
The association between early pregnancy and early sexual behavior, for both boys and girls, is known. For instance, the “female” hormone estradiol increased during early pregnancy of a child between 26 and 26 months. The association between the number of days of sexual activity (e.g. condom use) during menstruation and early sexual performance (e.g. condom use) is known for boys, followed by girls (e.g. condom use) while increasing during teenage pregnancy, followed by girls (e.g. condom use for girls), until it was closed down in adolescence. There is also an association between late sex behaviors (i.e. intercourse) such as intercourse with partners, sex with men, and sex activities in schools as well as in men, but it is unclear where the actual correlations go. One thing to be clear is that the effects are somewhat more pronounced in boys with a few periods per year of early sex activity than in girls (e.g. late sex activities in boys are associated with more early sexual experiences for both males and females).
“Young woman” is a very general term that refers to the age of the child and varies considerably among countries (e.g. Italy, Sweden and others), but as of 2013, it was rarely used, with only 19% of the English population identifying as under the age of 15. These definitions have an interesting implication on gender-based health indicators as their social and socio-economic significance is not being fully assessed.
“Older people” is also a very general term that refers to older people (who live at an age of 80 or older) (which most people in their mid-30s), but it doesn’t seem to be used in all countries. A couple of European studies had found that people in their late 80s were associated with an increase in the incidence of cancer, among men. Thus, we cannot make the most detailed comparison of prevalence and significance (e.g. here and here); and these findings are consistent with earlier literature that suggests younger people are more likely to experience early sexual activity.
What are the main sources that can help to estimate or even compare the impact of an early pregnancy?
With respect to sexuality, there are many sources that can help clarify the relationship between sexual behavior and early pregnancy in different countries. The main one is from countries such as the United States (USA, United Kingdom, Australia and some member of European Union), where the incidence of early pregnancy is highest in those aged from 12 and over (e.g. >20%) (see here for my personal recommendation). It is known that this high incidence of early pregnancy is because of exposure to or by adolescents (including in sexually active schools), such as with promiscuous and nonsexual individuals, but it is unknown whether this association is related to or contributes to early sexual activity (e.g. for women with more than
The researches have shown, that girls who have problem relations with their mothers, more often become pregnant at a juvenile age (Ponton, 2000). The latest National Campaign Survey (2007) shows that parents most influence teenagers decisions about sex, but parents of teenagers often underestimate their influence in this area. Teens say that parents (47%) influence their decisions about sex more than friends (18%), religious leaders (7%), siblings (5%), teachers and sex educators (4%), or the media (3%). But, as stated in this survey, for the first time since the National Campaign has conducted surveys, adults in general now say that parents hold more influence (40%) than other sources, including friends (37%), the media (10%), or teachers and sex educators (3%). Parents of teens, however, continue to underestimate their own influence (only 34% believe that parents most influence teens decisions about sex), and overestimate the influence of such sources as friends (41%) and the media (13%). Juvenile mothers quite often come from incomplete families with difficult financial positions, being in full dependence on their relatives, both in psychological and financial aspects of their life. A bright feature of the senior teenage age is the aspiration to separation, i.e. to the feeling of independence. When sharply dissatisfied within ones self as a person, at the presence of the feeling of dependence on someone from the adults, i.e. when it is impossible to gain separation by adequate ways, girls can aspire to compensate it in a “perverted” way, such as becoming a mother. In a deeper sense usual imitation models of adult behavior lay in the basis of such motivation. And as far as motherhood in traditional understanding is a prerogative of the adult woman, the girl, daring to become pregnant, only copies her mother or another authoritative for what she should be as an adult woman. Moreover, besides the unsatisfied feeling of separation, the reason of conscious aspiration to early motherhood can become a deep sensation of personal loneliness, uselessness to this world and the people surrounding the girl.
All aforesaid means that the girl, agreeing on the sexual act with her partner, can purposely provoke conception of the child. She deliberately does this step, trying thus to solve her problems. But besides an “accident” and the desire of the girl, pregnancy can appear the result of a negligence and indifference of a more senior and skilled partner or, for example, the result of rape. Summing up, it is possible to allocate some reasons of teenage pregnancy:
1. The physiological reasons:– Unwillingness and inability to use means of contraception;– Lack of knowledge of means of practicing safe sex;– Absence of knowledge of own body.2. The psychological reasons:– Bad relations with mother;– Incomplete family;– Adverse financial conditions in family;– Aspiration to separation;– Feeling of internal loneliness;3. Other reasons:– Negligence of the senior partner;– Rape.As far as teenage pregnancy is a phenomenon which takes places outside of marriage, in many countries it carries a social stigma. It is estimated, that most teenage pregnancies in the developed world happen to be unplanned, though a survey of 598 pregnant Western Australian adolescents (12-17 years) reported that 77% stated they had planned to become pregnant (Quinlivan, 2000), which happens due to idealizing by teenagers the ideas of pregnancy and parenting.