Teenage pregnancy in the Black community
The risk of dying for the babies born by these African American mothers is high and it occurs before the first birthday. The mothers are also likely to drop out of school. In general teen pregnancy becomes a personal, societal and a family problem. The problem does not just lie in the pregnant girl but everybody in the society becomes affected. Many people bury their heads in the sand when sex education is mentioned before their children and they cannot gather enough courage to teach their children about dangers of premarital sex and while they do, it does not mean that their children are not engaging in it. Teen pregnancy among the black community remains a major challenge despite the multitude of efforts initiated to deal with it.
Reasons for the rise in pregnancy
It has been astounding that the rate of teen pregnancy among African American girls has continued to rise year after year, compared to other races. This has prompted a number of researches which are aimed at looking deeply into the issues and understanding the causative factors. There are various reasons that contribute to teenage pregnancy. Some of these factors include little or no knowledge about sex, sexuality and contraceptives. Others include lack of support from the family and the community, influence by the media and online sites and peer pressure. Let us look closely at each and every factor to understand how they intertwine to increase the rate of pregnancy among teenage girls.
Media influence
More than any other institution in the society, the media is considered the most influential.
Unfortunately, the media has both positive and negative influences. The society we are living in is filled with messages of sexuality which infiltrate the media on daily bases and this has had a great influence on teenagers (Teal 2). Depending on the attributes of sex they seen in the media, teenagers are sexually charged and hence become sexually active. We find in the media young girls are portrayed as sex objects and teen girls are used as a marketing strategy in many TV commercials to sell goods and services. Hence the society we are living in tends to glorify sex.This has increased the rate of immorality leading to pregnancy among the teens.
Raging hormones
During early puberty there is a rising surge of emotions and feelings and also teenagers develop a natural sense of rebellion. This makes them vent their feelings through sexual expressions. The desire and need to explore their sexuality leads to them engaging in sex. However this has been a contributing factor not only on the African American girls but also among other races as well. There is little research evidence which shows increased hormonal activity among African American girls compared to other races but puberty growth combined with little knowledge on sexuality has been a contributory factor.
Peer pressure
Many teenagers engage in premature sexual due to peer pressure. They do this so that they can fit and be accepted in their circle of friends since they dont want to lose their circle of buddies they end up having a partner and it is from here that sexual encounters starts leading to pregnancy (Philadelphia Black Womens Health Project). Like other races, African American teenage girls have been affected by peer pressure which drives many to practice early sex.
Low self esteem
Tracing the roots of African American as slaves, there is a lot that can be understood in terms of self esteem when viewed in racial lens. This is how one feels about him or her self and how you think others feel about yourself. When teenagers have low esteem, they feel like nobody loves them or cares about them. This may lead them into sexual activity due to emotional stress leading to pregnancy. Appearance is the main factor that contributes to low self esteem in that the teenagers compare themselves with their peers who may be better looking or the peers may be making fun of them. Based on skin color and stereotyping, African American girls may have a higher likelihood of engaging in sexual activities. According to Philadelphia Black Womens Health Project, two thirds of teen mothers records history of sexual abuse which has severe impact on their self esteem. More than one quarter have reported that they had their first sexual contacted without any agreement or consent. This means that increased cases of rape has been a major contributing factor for teen pregnancy in this community.
Use of contraceptives
The subject of contraceptives is considered a hot debate in sexual education. There are those arguing that education on contraceptives has contributed to higher rates of pregnancy since most teenagers dont just know how to use them while there are those arguing that contraceptives help reduce teen pregnancy. Due to the readily available contraceptives coupled with the raging sexual desires, peer pressure, and media, the teenagers assure themselves that they can protect themselves from becoming pregnant. But most of these contraceptives are not a complete foolproof to birth control.Thefore these do not guarantee safety and therefore the teenagers engaging in sex while believing they are safe are also more likely to get pregnant (Sue and Rosen 35). Considering the situation of African American teenagers, lack of education on contraceptives or just lack of contraceptives due to financial situation can be considered as a major factor contributing to increased cases of pregnancies. According to Philadelphia Black Womens Health Project, more than three quarters of teen pregnancies occurs to adolescent who does not use any form of birth control.
Perception
Different individuals, institutions and religions hold different values on teenage pregnancy. Some believe that the flaunting of a teenagers sexuality is beyond her control and that she is being driven by the power of peak fertility and evolution. Paul Sheehan argues that nature has automated them to be sexually active at all times, get pregnant and keep the human species going. He therefore suggests that women should be allowed by the society to have children at a very young age (teenage) when their reproductive system is robust instead of bearing children by the age of 30 and above when their reproductive is weaker. He therefore advocates for the society to embrace and support teenage mothers. Teen pregnancy among African American teenage girls is perceived as a moral problem rather than being tied to the causative factors mentioned above and their economic situations. This perception has limited the level and extent of initiatives that have been taken to tackle the problem.
These are different myths that have contributed to teen pregnancy and most of these are as a result of misinformation on sex and sexuality. Some of the myths are that a girl cant get pregnant when she jumps up and down after sex, if it is her first time, if she sneezes for fifteen minutes after sex, if they have sex standing up and if they have sex in a swimming pool or in a hot bath. These myths in turn confuse the teenagers into believing that they cant get pregnant.
Most teenage mothers feel that they rushed into sex and that they should have waited a little bit longer till they were of age. This is because after their first sexual encounter, they have had many sexual partners and this has increased the risk of contracting sexually tranmitted diseases (Harris 1998). Also after getting pregnant, they tend to engage in care free sex encounters because they are already pregnant. A study conducted by Mirms and Biordi (25) showed that the girls continued to engage in sex even after pregnancy because pregnancy increased the desire for sex. Teen pregnancy among African American teenage girls has had various effects on their personal and societal well being. It creates a lifelong problem for the teens and eh society as whole. Teenage mothers need education and in a hard economic situation most African Americans lives in, this is a major challenge to the society. Education has been pointed out as one of the factors that may help to eliminate teen pregnancy but this becomes another major challenge since most African Americans have resources constraints (Advocates for Youth).
Teen pregnancy doesnt affect just the teen mother or father but its effects on the society and economy are felt. Some of the effects on the society include an increase in the costs of health care, foster care and incarceration and also lower tax revenues. These results due to the fact that the teen mothers are less likely to get employed, married or receive prenatal care and are more likely to engage in drug use e.g. smoking. The babies born are more likely to be premature and under weight which requires more medical attention to ensure the babys health (Mirms and Biordi 25). The mothers are less likely to get employed because the are less likely to complete their education due to taking care of the child. What is more unfortunate is that this cycle tends to recur as a child born of a teenage parent will tend to become a teenage parent as well.
The babies born become weaker and other problems like infant death and others may result. When they grow up, these children are more likely to have behavior problems because they are raised by unskilled parents.
Conclusion
Teen pregnancy is a major problem among the African American teenage girls. This has been contributed by different factors which range from normal biological problems to social problems like economic status. Teen pregnancy in this community is perceived to be a moral problem rather than a problem contributed by biological and social problems. In order to combat teenage pregnancy among the African Americans, it is important to take stern measures that address the causative factors in order to empower them.
Guttmacher institute September 2006. Facts on American Teens Sexual and Reproductive Health. 26thJan httpwww.guttmacher.org. The writer gives facts and figures about sexual activity and pregnancy among teenagers. He has used a chart to show the levels of sexual activity at different ages. I found his work relevant because he has covered all areas about sexual activity among teenagers and contraceptives in percentages and he clearly illustrates how the trends are going at different ages.
Advocates for Youth. Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative. 1998. Advocate for youth is a groups that fights for issues affecting youths. In this particular article, the organizations looks into different factors that have contributed to increase cases of teenage pregnancy among African Americans teenage youths but it also looks into factors affect teenage girls in general.
Harris Jones Urban African American Adolescent Parents Their Perceptions of Sex, Love, intimacy, Pregnancy and Parenting. Questia 33(1998) The author tries to describe different perception concerning the perception of African-American parents on sex love intimacy, parenting and Pregnancy. I found him relevant because he tackled the perception of the teenage mothers concerning their daughters pregnancy.
Mirms, B. Biordi, DL. Teenage pregnancy among African Americans a qualitative examination of maternal education, teenage pregnancy, family dynamics, and conflict resolution. Journal of Black Nurses Association, 14(2003) 20-27. This study specifically looked into the issue of teenage pregnancy among African American youths. In the qualitative study, the authors looked into how teenage pregnancy among African American girls affects other society and family members. The study also explored the conflict that is likely to be elicited by teenage pregnancy.
Philadelphia Black Womens Health Project. African American women and adolescent pregnancy. 2002. 26 January, 2010 httpwww.blackwomenshealthproject.orgaaapregnancy.htm In this article, the authors explore the predicament of African American girls in light of teenage pregnancy issues. Philadelphia Black Womens Health Project comes out as one of the organizations that have looked into reasons for increased cases of teenage pregnancy among African Americans. The article identifies different factors that have contributed to teenage pregnancy.
Stanley, Henshaw. Unintended pregnancy in the United States. Family Planning Perspectives, 30(2008) 24-46. In this article the author takes a deep insight into the factors that have contributed to unintended pregnancy in the United States. The writer mentions different factors that affect the African American youths and which have contributed to rising cases of teenage pregnancy. This source is relevant for this study as it looks into the broader picture of unintended pregnancies in the United States and factors that have contributed.
Sue, Christensen, Rosen, Ann. Teenage Pregnancy. Information about Children and Families, 2006 In this article, the authors explores teenage pregnancy in details. The authors give an account of cases of rising teenage pregnancy especially among African American youths and attribute it to different factors.
Teal Allen. Teen pregnancy the Problem and Possible Solutions. Health Review, March 06, 2007 The author tries to advice on how best everybody in the society can play his or her own part on matters concerning teenage pregnancy. I found his work relevant because he argues that teen pregnancy is a societal problem and not just of the pregnant girl. He offers some good solutions on reducing many other problems that follow teenage pregnancy.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment