Pregnancy In Adolescence Essay Research Paper In

Pregnancy In Adolescence Essay, Research Paper

In most societies, out of wedlock pregnancy and childbearing violate the optimal life course pattern of completion of schooling, gaining employment, marriage, and then parenthood. The phenomenon of adolescent pregnancy is particularly troubling though. Although this occurrence often results in a personal, as well as very real, social dilemma, it must be recognized from the outset that it is not the behaviors themselves that are problematic, but their timing. Adolescence is a period of intense physical, emotional, cognitive, and social development. For this reason, pregnancy is not only potentially very damaging to the individual’s normal development, but it is also a great challenge to prevent because there is no one method of intervention that will address every adolescent individual’s need.

It is primarily age that makes the adolescent transition to sexual activity and conception a problem. Childbearing and the desire to experience sexual contact are biologically normal once physical maturation has occurred (Dean 34). For this reason, premature sexual activity is unlike the socially unacceptable behaviors from which it is grouped. Illicit drug use, alcohol abuse, and delinquency are damaging at whatever age they occur and are never considered normative by the society at large (Hardy 112). It is the age at which early sexual onset and pregnancy occur that, by placing them generally outside marriage and interfering with what is perceived as a normative progression of life events, defines them as “problem” or “high-risk” behaviors (114).

The age at which an adolescent becomes a parent will in large part determine the severity of the disruption he or she will experience. Such an interruption of the tasks of adolescent development, truncating as it often does the completion of schooling and the opportunity to build a strong, independent life, contributes to the individual and social implications of premature parenting (Dean 45). The issue of age therefore must be central to any analysis of adolescent conception.

Adolescence is a period of flux, of change, and of growth; there is no period, with the possible exception of infancy, in which age plays so important and complex a part (Nathanson 39). The role of chronological age, however, is particularly confusing because the stages of adolescence are timed differently for each individual. Physical, emotional, moral and mental development appear to follow well-described sequences that are similar from one individual to another, but even within one individual, each proceeds on a different track. The timetables observed by these areas of development are often different and rarely in synch (Eisen 262).

Why do the consequences of teenage sexual activity tend to differ with age. Older teenagers of eighteen or nineteen will in general have ceased growing. Those who delay sexual onset until their later teens are more mature in their cognitive and socioemotional development. Many will have finished high school, some will be working, and some will be married (Forrest 210). Their obstetrical risks, if they conceive, will on average be lower than those of younger teens. Their social risks will usually be lower than those of younger teens as well (212).

Pregnant adolescents younger than eighteen, on the other hand, are usually at high risk both medically and socially. They are generally still growing and therefore may be in competition with the fetus for nutrients (Forrest 213). The likelihood of anemia, which is common during the normal adolescent growth spurt, is increased by pregnancy and other complications of pregnancy are frequent. As a result, in the absence of comprehensive and specialized prenatal care, preterm delivery and low infant birth weight occur with higher frequency in this age group than in women who commence childbearing later in life (Hardy 210).

In early adolescence, discontinuities between physical development and emotional, psychological and cognitive development are likely to be most pronounced. An adolescent’s ability to comprehend the consequences of her behaviors, to form stable relationships, to communicate effectively with a partner, or to seek protective counsel may be out of line with what her hormones tell her or tell the world about her (Howard 22). Thus, even when sexual onset is a matter of “choice,” the young person may be as unprepared for it as if it were involuntary or coerced (23). The younger she is, the more problematic each aspect of sexual life may be and the higher the probability that she will experience detrimental consequences from her sexual behavior.

Adolescents are less likely to use contraception at first intercourse the younger they are at that event and less likely to seek prompt assistance in the choice of method (Mosher 110). Even when they adopt a contraceptive method, they are less likely than older teenagers and young adults to use it consistently and effectively (111). Sexually active teens are unlikely to receive timely treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and are unlikely to recognize their need for that treatment (Althaus 174). They are at higher risk for STD’s than any other age group due to biological and psychological attributes. The immature histological structure of the adolescent vaginal epithelium is more prone to infection than a more mature individual (175). Ps