In the movie Riding in Cars with Boys, actress Drew Barrymore, portrays a young teenage girl, in the 1960's, named Beverly D"Onofrio who, after a harsh rejection by a football player at a party, meets a boy named Ray Hasek, played by Steve Zahn and begins to grow a certain attachment to him. Later she ends up becoming pregnant by him and has to forgo her teenage years and dreams in order to take care of her soon to be baby boy. As the film developed, there were certain concepts that can relate to Human Growth and Developmet: pregnancy, early marriage, single parenting, drug addiction and parental separation.
Pregnancy.
The number of teen pregnancy in the United States has increase drastically and unfortunately it has become a habit. The biggest question would be why do they get pregnant at an early age? A study made by the Health Communication Research Laboratory (HCRL) said "Teens become pregnant because they neglect to make decisions that are best for themselves and for their futures and in some sense lack self-respect" (1997). This is clearly seen in the film when Beverly, a not so popular girl, is rejected by a football player and a boy named Ray, who later becomes her husband, comes to her defense and as a result they end up sleeping together and she gets pregnant. Here we see a typical setting in a teen girl's life where, after suffering a harsh rejection turns to the first guy who can cope with their feelings, therefore, making a wrong decision that changed her life and showed her "lack of self-respect".
Early Marriage.
In the movie Riding in Cars with Boys Beverly is, in someway, forced to marry Ray at an early age in order to make her father happy after "betraying" him by getting pregnant before marriage. Before Beverly made any decision to have sexual relations with Ray, she had plans/goals for her future. One of those plans/goals was to continue her studies at the prestigious New York University, (NYU) and become a writer.
