Teenage pregnancy is whereby a young female adolescent gets pregnant through indulgence in unprotected sex (Colman et al, 2013). Apart from pregnancy, teenagers who engage in unprotected sex suffer risks of acquiring sexually transmitted infections. This paper highlights the various factors that contribute to unwanted pregnancies and sexual diseases among teenagers.
The first factor is the usage of drugs and alcohol. The adolescent stage is a period when some teenagers may start to drink or try out drugs with their peers at social events and parties. However, they do not realize that drugs and alcohol have impacts on their brain’s functioning. A large quantity of alcohol consumption or drug abuse reduces the teen’s abilities to think logically (Colman et a, 2013). When teens get drunk, they are unable to perform general reasoning process and this increases the risks of them engaging in unprotected sexual activities. In this way, they may end up getting pregnant or even getting infected with sexual diseases.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The second factor is the low economic family status. Teens who come from low-income family backgrounds are more vulnerable to pregnancies and are at high risks of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases. These children are raised up in poverty and the family lacks enough resources to raise them. The children, therefore, grow up with low educational goals, as their parents do not give them enough support. The negative environment that surrounds the children makes them have minimum ambitions to succeed in education so they end up identifying children with similar conditions and end up doing sexual activities with them (Colman et al, 2013).
The children in these families also lack role models, as the family is not well-connected (Buhi et al., 2013). They lack people that they can learn from and emulate. Low economic families are also associated with child abuse and this makes the teens be to get disconnected from their relatives, which makes them make poor decisions. The lack of connection in the family makes the teens not to rely on the adults but to look for friends who have similar problems with theirs (Buhi et al, 2013). As they lack awareness about sexual health, reproduction, available contraceptives, they start engaging in unprotected sexual activities with different partners. Therefore, they have higher chances of acquiring pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Thirdly, sexual abuse also leads to teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among the youth. Young females at times may be forced by an adult to do unprotected sex. They feel that they have no choice but to do the act. Because of fear that their predators might harm them, they do not report the cases and they later realize that they have been impregnated or have acquired STI’s. Teens in relationships may also undergo peer pressure whereby they are forced by their peers to do unprotected sex to prove their love to their partner. The partner uses the other teen to engage in unprotected sex and this may lead to unwanted pregnancy or even acquisition of a sexually transmitted infection.
Lastly, influence from the media contributes to pregnancies and sexual diseases among teens. The media hosts certain shows that glamorize teenage pregnancy. A good example is “The Young Moms”. The show glorifies teen pregnancy but often do not talk about the hardships related with early pregnancies. The teens, therefore, sort to drop out of school and commit themselves to establish a strong relationship with their partners in order to get pregnant and start their own families.
In conclusion, therefore, the main factors that contribute pregnancy and spread of sexually transmitted diseases among teens are lack of awareness, early involvement in sexual relations and peer pressure. This can either be controlled by encouraging our teens not to involve themselves in sexual activities, telling them to avoid influence from peers and creating awareness about the use of protection and correct choice of birth control. Low economic status and media influence also contribute to teen pregnancy and sexual diseases.
References
Colman, S., Dee, T. S., & Joyce, T. (2013). Do parental involvement laws deter risky teen sex ?. Journal of health economics, 32(5), 873-880.
Buhi, E. R., Klinkenberger, N., McFarlane, M., Kachur, R., Daley, E. M., Baldwin, J., ... & Rietmeijer, C. (2013). Evaluating the Internet as a sexually transmitted disease risk environment for teens : findings from the communication, health, and teens study. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 40(7), 528-533.
