A look at the problems stemming from teenage pregnancies.
The paper examines the trends in teenage pregnancies and looks at the differences in teenage girls who come from different racial and ethnic groups, specifically Hispanics. The paper discusses the causes behind teenage pregnancy and the impact of welfare reform on teenage pregnancy rates. The paper addresses the physical and psychological problems pregnancy can have on teenagers and argues that the number of problems affecting the teenage mother, teenage fathers, grandparents, and the nation are continuing to climb.
“Different factors may determine if a teenager will become a pregnant teenager. The family of the teenage girl, the neighborhood, the peers, and often the grandparents may affect whether a teenage girl becomes sexually active. Girls who have problems in school are more likely to be predisposed to get pregnant than young girls who are high-achievers in school. Teens who have parents that were pregnant during the teen years will be more likely to become to become a teenage mother. Teenagers who live in high rates of poverty, welfare use, or live in one-parent households have a higher chance of becoming sexually active (Coley and Chase-Lansdale 1998).”