Bad for the Mother
Common medical problems among adolescent mothers include poor weight gain, pregnancy-induced hypertension, anemia, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and cephalopelvic disproportion. Later in life, adolescent mothers tend to be at greater risk for obesity and hypertension than women who were not teenagers when they had their first child.
Teen pregnancy is closely linked to poverty and single parenthood. A 1990 study showed that almost one-half of all teenage mothers and over three-quarters of unmarried teen mothers began receiving welfare within five years of the birth of their first child. The growth in single-parent families remains the single most important reason for increased poverty among children over the last
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Helping teens avoid other risk-taking behaviors may also help teens avoid a pregnancy.
The Environment
The environments that children grow up in have an important influence on their risk of teen pregnancy.
Increasing the capacity of families and communities to nurture teens and help them stay in school and set goals for their lives may contribute to lower rates of teen pregnancy. Young people who feel supported by parents, school, and community during their adolescence are buffered against the risk of too-early pregnancy.
Cultural and Media Messages
Teens are barraged by TV shows, films, songs, and advertising in which sex has little meaning, unplanned pregnancy seldom happens, and sexual partners are rarely married, let alone committed to each other. Sexual themes permeate the pictures and plot lines. Teens may spend more time in the presence of these messages than in the presence of alternative messages that value staying in school and preparing for adulthood.
Teen pregnancy is just one problem young people face in our culture today—and perhaps not the most pressing one. Parents identify violence, gangs, drugs, and pressure from peers to engage in unhealthy behaviors as even greater risks than early