Pregnancy

Each year, almost 750,000 teenage women in USA aged 15-19 become pregnant (U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics, 2006). Worldwide, rates of teenage pregnancy range from 143 per 1000 in sub-Saharan Africa to 2.9 per 1000 in South Korea (UNICEF, 2001).

The reasons of this problem are various in different countries, but most common are lower educational levels, higher rates of poverty, and other poorer life outcomes. These reasons of teenage pregnancy are understood today quite one-sidedly. It is not only an unsafe sexual act, it is in some cases the inability or unwillingness to practice safe sex that leads to unplanned conception and undesirable pregnancy. A fact of great importance is that early pregnancy is a result of simple ignorance of their own body (i.e. the anatomy of genitals, the concept of "menstrual cycle", the process of conception, and the factors influencing this process), and it concerns both girls, and boys. A huge role, besides physiological, is played by psychological factors.

The researches have shown, that girls who have problem relations with their mothers, more often become pregnant at a juvenile age (Ponton, 2000). The latest National Campaign Survey (2007) shows that parents most influence teenagers' decisions about sex, but parents of teenagers often underestimate their influence in this area. Teens say that parents (47%) influence their decisions about sex more than friends (18%), religious leaders (7%), siblings (5%), teachers and sex educators (4%), or the media (3%). But, as stated in this survey, for the first time since the National Campaign has conducted surveys, adults in general now say that parents hold more influence (40%) than other sources, including friends (37%), the media (10%), or teachers and sex educators (3%). Parents of teens, however, continue to underestimate their own influence (only 34% believe that parents most influence teens' decisions about sex), and overestimate the influence of such sources as friends (41%) and the media (13%). Juvenile mothers quite often come from incomplete families with difficult financial positions, being in full dependence on their relatives, both in psychological and financial aspects of their life. A bright feature of the senior teenage age is the aspiration to separation, i.e. to the feeling of independence. When sharply dissatisfied within one's self as a person, at the presence of the feeling of dependence on someone from the adults, i.e. when it is impossible to gain separation by adequate ways, girls can aspire to compensate it in a "perverted" way, such as becoming a mother. In a deeper sense usual imitation models of adult behavior lay in the basis of such motivation. And as far as motherhood in traditional understanding is a prerogative of the adult woman, the girl, daring to become pregnant, only copies her mother or another authoritative for what she should be as an adult woman. Moreover, besides the unsatisfied feeling of separation, the reason of conscious aspiration to early motherhood can become a deep sensation of personal loneliness, uselessness to this world and the people surrounding the girl.

All aforesaid means that the girl, agreeing on the sexual act with her partner, can purposely provoke conception of the child. She deliberately does this step, trying thus to solve her problems. But besides an "accident" and the desire of the girl, pregnancy can appear the result of a negligence and indifference of a more senior and skilled partner or, for example, the result of rape. Summing up, it is possible to allocate some reasons of teenage pregnancy:

1. The physiological reasons:

- Unwillingness and inability to use means of contraception;

- Lack of knowledge of means of practicing safe sex;

- Absence of knowledge of own body.

2. The psychological reasons:

- Bad relations with mother;

- Incomplete family;

- Adverse financial conditions in family;

- Aspiration to separation;

- Feeling of internal loneliness;

3. Other reasons:

- Negligence of the senior partner;

- Rape.

As far as teenage pregnancy is a phenomenon which takes places outside of marriage, in many countries it carries a social stigma. It is estimated, that most teenage pregnancies in the developed world happen to be unplanned, though a survey of 598 pregnant Western Australian adolescents (12-17 years) reported that 77% stated they had planned to become pregnant (Quinlivan, 2000), which happens due to idealizing by teenagers the ideas of pregnancy and parenting.

According to the statistics, the number of teenage pregnancies has decreased considerably over the last few decades, due to increased availability of contraception and abortion and knowledge about reproductive matters. Teen pregnancy and birth rates in the United States have decreased by one-third since 1990s. In spite of this notable improvement, it is still the case that three in ten girls in the United States get pregnant by age 20 and that the United States continues to have higher rates of teen pregnancy, birth, and abortion than other comparable countries (National Center for Health Statistics, 2002). One of the reasons why the rate of teen pregnancy in the United States remains so high when compared to other fully industrialized countries is because this country lacks a clear social norm that teenage pregnancy and parenthood are in no one's best interest. The data presented in the surveys supports this argument. One-quarter of adults and nearly one-third of teens believe that teen pregnancy and parenthood in their own communities are "no big deal," which, in turn, suggests an unwillingness among adults - and the culture generally - to take a clear stand on whether teen pregnancy is or is not okay (National Center for Health Statistics, 2002).

The National Campaign Survey underscores the significant importance of understanding why sexually active teens do not use contraception consistently and carefully. Results from this survey and others suggest that there is no single answer to this important question. Both teens and adults believe there are many reasons why teens do not use contraception, from being embarrassed, to being under the influence, to simply making a decision not to. Both adults and teens agree, though, the primary reason sexually active teens do not use contraception is because they are afraid their parents might