Teenage pregnancy is something that may not even be an issue in some societies. Some cultures have girls married off before the age of 18, so having a pregnancy as a teen is considered normal. In the United States and other western cultures, however, teenage pregnancy is seen as an issue that could lead to potentially serious problems. To raise some awareness about teen pregnancy, here are some more interesting facts to consider.
1. 2,000 Per Day
In the United States, it is estimated that about 750,000 teen girls will find themselves pregnant every year. In practical terms, that means 2,000 teen girls find out that they are pregnant every day. This means that 30% of girls are pregnant at least once while in their teenage years. That’s in the population as a whole. Racial minorities in the United States see higher teen pregnancy rates when compared to white. About half of African-American girls, in fact, will be pregnant at least once before they have their 20th birthday.
2. Most Teen Dads Don’t Support
One of the issues that teen pregnancy faces is the role of the father. Teen dads aren’t held to the same standards by society and sometimes aren’t even required to support their child. When they do, the support is often minimal. For teen fathers, the average amount of annual child support provided is $800. Compare that to the $10,000 in support that a teen mom typically needs and the differences are quite staggering. That’s why many teen moms tend to live at home and try to support their child as best they can.
3. School Isn’t a Priority
There are a number of reasons why kids choose to drop out of school. Some just hate school. Others decide to pursue a vocational career instead. Drugs are a popular thing to blame for high dropout rates. For teen girls, however, becoming a parent is the leading cause of dropping out of school. Many of the moms never go back either – only 51% of teen mothers hold a GED or HS diploma. Advanced schooling is even more of a rarity. For teen girls that become pregnant before the age of 20, only 2% of them will receive a higher level degree above a high school diploma.
4. The Babies Face Huge Hurdles
Being the child of a teen pregnancy isn’t a walk in the park. Although nothing is guaranteed in life, kids who have a teen mom as a parent are three times more likely to have a child when they are a teen as well. Because so many fathers don’t live in the household with their child, it puts their kids at a 5x greater risk of living in poverty as they grow up. For sons of teen moms, they have double the chances of being incarcerated at some point in their lives.
5. It’s a Recent Phenomenon
In the United States, virtually all of the teen pregnancies that were on record were kids that were born to married women. Now virtually all of the women are unmarried. There’s some good news because teen pregnancy rates are declining in the US, but the United States still leads the world by a far margin in the statistics. Part of the problem is thought to be how sex education is being taught in today’s schools. More than half of the country emphasizes abstinence-only education and provides zero resources for contraceptives.
6. It’s Not Always a Personal Choice
About 40% of teen girls who lost their virginity before the age of 15 say that the intercourse they experienced was not wanted or that it was involuntary. Girls are often pressured to have sex by their significant others, much more so than boys. This means that teen girls are often placed into a difficult position. If they refuse, then they might wind up alone and mocked at school. If they give in, then they might become pregnant and feel used in the process. Even for those who decided to have sex, two-thirds of teens wish they had waited.
7. How Bad Is It In the United States?
Americans just have to look at their neighbors across the border to see an amazing statistic. Canadian teen pregnancy rates are 50% of those of the United States. In countries like Germany or France, places that Americans might deem to be liberal or even socialized, their teen pregnancy rates are 4x lower per capita than American numbers. In Japan, teen pregnancy rates are 8x lower. Why are American rates so high?
The average age for intercourse is 17, but the average age of marriage is 25. This means there is 8 years where young people are at a higher risk of having an unwanted pregnancy. Although teens are waiting longer to have sex, 70% of the population has had sex before the age of 19. Teens in the US and these other countries have similar levels of sexual activity, which means there has to be a difference in the use of contraceptives.
8. Contraceptives Are a Game Changer
Teens who aren’t using a contraceptive and are sexually active for a year will have a 90% chance of becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy. The only problem for the American teen is that the most common contraceptives being used have the least effectiveness. Teen girls report using condoms or withdrawal more often than using birth control pills. Only 1 in 5 teen girls will use a combination of contraceptives.
9. It’s Not Just Pregnancy That’s an Issue
On the average year, the 13-24 age demographic makes up 1 out of 5 new cases of HIV or AIDS that is discovered. Although this age demographic accounts for only one quarter of the sexually active population, they are diagnosed with more than half of all new sexually transmitted infections each year. This shows that contraceptives aren’t being used as often as claimed – or they are being used incorrectly. Either issue also could contribute to teen pregnancy rates.
Teen pregnancies have a high cost that isn’t always financial. Girls especially struggle to get their life back on track after having a child. By knowing these facts, maybe the tides can get turned and pregnancy rates can begin to drop.