Teen Pregnancy: How does it affect society?.
The commercial begins with a man and woman pacing back and forth in their bathroom. You can sense the nervousness just by the looks on their faces. The woman finally picks up the stick and looks at it in shock while she shows the man. The caption on the television reads "Their lives are about to change forever." Both the man and the woman walk over to the young girl who is their daughter and hug her. The last caption states "They are about to become the youngest grandparents in the neighborhood." Teen pregnancy is a major concern in today's society. There are many ways to prevent teenage pregnancy and there are many people and places that offer support, help, and advice. .
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Today in the United States one million girls between the ages of 13 and 18 will become pregnant. Fifty-one percent of these teenage girls will give birth to their babies. The United States has the highest birth rate in the industrialized world. It is twice is high as the United Kingdom and ten times higher than Japan. There has been a decline in the birth rate since the early nineties, but the birth rate still remains high. California has the highest teenage birth rate in the United States. The rate of births for teenage Hispanic girls has surpassed the rates of Caucasians and African-Americans. Each year the federal government spends forty billion dollars to help families that began with a teenage pregnancy. Compared to teenagers who come from families with higher incomes, lower income teenage girls are more probable to be sexually active and not know about contraceptives and how to use them. Low-income and poor teenage girls count for seventy-three percent of fifteen to nineteen year olds who become pregnant. .
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Many factors are associated with teen pregnancy. Some factors relate to the individual while others focus on the family structure, the type of community environment, or peer and partner attitudes.