Sociology Research Paper: Teen Pregnancy

Social Issues: Teen Pregnancy

Kinley Lee

Sociology 1301

Mrs. Shoemake

11 April 2015

In the U.S., more than 750,000 girls ages 15-19 become pregnant every year. More than 80 percent of these are unintended pregnancies. Teen pregnancy is one of the most difficult experiences a young person could ever face as it interrupts school and future goals. It can create an emotional crisis resulting in feelings of shame and fear and finding help may seem to be an impossible task.I believe that some people see teens raising children and do not realize the problems with teen pregnancy in their society, their homes, their community, and their school. There are many viewpoints as to why teenage females are having so many children out of wedlock. However, I believe teenage females are having sex because of the lack of strong parental guidance, sex education, and positive mass media.

Teens who receive a comprehensive education about sex are 50 percent less likely to have an unintended pregnancy than those who receive sex educations that are abstinence-only (Cauthen 2012). Too many sex ed programs given to teens every year focus solely on abstinence which deters a teens attention and proves to be ineffective. More programs in the U.S. should teach the realities of sex and thoroughly inform the teens about the dangers and possible outcomes of sex. It is proven that the programs that teach about sex and do not teach about abstinence are more effective, so why don’t we develop sexual education programs to teach the country that will actually benefit our youth?

Sexually active teens face risks other than just pregnancy, they also face risk of sexualy transmitted diseases that can be even more detrimental to their lives than pregnancy. Luckily, there is a solution to preventing both issues; condoms. Dispensing condoms in schools is a proven method to increase safe sex. “A comparison of public high schools in New York City and Chicago found positive effects of condom availability programs. With the same sexual activity among senior high students in both cities (NYC, 59.7 percent; Chicago, 60.1 percent), sexually active students in New York, where there is a condom availability program, were more likely to report using a condom at last intercourse than were those in Chicago, where condoms are not available in school (60.8 to 55.5 percent). (Conway 2014). “ People would argue that condoms are not 100% effective, so I would also advocate for schools to dispense birth control to their girls in order to decrease the probability of teen pregnancy. With easy access to these products students are more likely to use them and have safer sex which