Solution for Teen Pregnancy

Teenagers have a lot of changes in their body and psychology. Teenagers want to be adults although their body develops imperfectly. At this age, they are often curious about the other gender. As a result, teenagers have sex activities for a try. One of the consequences they have to bear is pregnancy due to a lack of birth control methods. Teenage sex has become a serious problem, even though sex actually has consequences, both emotionally and physically. Unfortunately, most teenagers often do not think about sex seriously. As a matter of fact, teen pregnancy has recently increased in the United States because of early puberty, lack of the parents’ care, and impact of drugs, sex movies and internet.

Early puberty is often a difficult time for both boys and girls. Unlike other poor nations, food and nutrition in the United States are available to most of the people. Nutrition is an important element to contribute to early puberty in teens. When teenagers reach puberty, their secondary sex changes occur; this period of life is marked by the onset of menses in females and sperm production in males. Besides, boys and/or girls often get their minds distracted or become clumsy in actions. Because of the changes, teenagers think they have become adults already. Therefore, they determine to show off their being adult by looking for the other half of theirs. Unfortunately, many parents don’t realize that their children are changing.

Instead, the parents sometimes yell at their children, which makes the children embarassed. Unintentionally, parents block the way for interaction and leave their children alone. In a lonely world, teenagers don’t have anyone to confide in, except for their friends. Because of the same age, teenagers share the same view of life. While embarrassed, teenagers might think out slanted. Here is the time that teenagers are most likely to fall in love with their boy friend or girl friend. As soon as love comes up, sex also follows. As a result, a lot of teenagers become pregnant, even for the first time they have sex. For those who become pregnant for the first time they have sex, sex actually is a problem of seriousness, and sex has horrible consequences.

If teen pregnancy is attributed to the mistake of teenagers themselves, the parents also bear a part of the responsibility because they do not supervise their children strictly. In the United States, time is money, and Americans don’t spend time with each other. Moreover, most families are facing a lot of challenges in daily life. Parents have to work to support the family and face the tense atmosphere at work. That’s why most of the parents don’t realize changes in their children. It is rare to see both parents and their young children sit and have a talk about sex. Because of work, the busy parents do not even have time to rest. Due to the lack of rest, they cannot find the time to talk to the children. Neither the busy parents nor the divorced parents also have the chance to supervise and educate their kids.

The parents sometimes have no idea that their children are dating and are sexually active. Most seriously, the American society also suffers the consequences caused by teenagers who have absent parents. Beyond pregnancy, teenagers are severely affected by the sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV-AIDS. In the AIDS era, teen pregnancy is a mistake of both teenagers and the irresponsible parents. As Gilbert Burnet, a retired judge in North Carolina, wonders, “When you’ve got a 12-year-old girl whose mother is a drug addict and her daddy’s in prison, who teaches her?” (qtd. in Koch).

If the curiosity in teenagers and the careless parents are the reasons that lead to teen pregnancy, drugs, sex movies and internet are also considered the key elements causing teen pregnancy. Deeply concerned about the teens, many people awaken the threat of drugs and sex. In “Teen behavior is focus of meeting of Schechter parents,” principal Joyce Raynor comments:The drugs that are available now are much more dangerous. The sex and all that you read in the papers happens at a younger age. When all these ’60s people were having sex, it was probably in college. They were 18, they were 19, and they were 20. Now you read about the kids who are 14 or 15. They are not as emotionally mature or physically developed. It is more dangerous. (qtd. in Wiener).

In addition to drugs, sex movies and websites seem to attract teenagers. Programmed with the most intelligent search tools, these websites allow any person get in the magic world with thousand different addresses. Type some key words, click, and in less than a second, one can be in the midst of the sex world. It is the bad websites that create unhealthy images of sex lifestyle and sex activities in the teenagers’ mind. Teenagers increase their consideration about the content on the websites obviously. First, their face still turns red when they see the pictures of the naked bodies, or of making love. But thereafter, they seem to be so familiar that they become cool. Compared to sex movies, the internet is a bigger obstacle for parents who are having teenaged children. Monitoring sex websites is harder than monitoring sex movies. Apparently, the world of the internet is actually the no-boundary world. If the no-boundary world brings joy to teenagers, it also brings them troubles. One of the troubles could be pregnancy, dropping out of school, performing abortion, or becoming grudging mothers.

As shown in the Los Angeles Times, “But even though adults may hector endlessly, an estimated 800,000 teen-age girls still become pregnant every year.” Pregnancy in teenagers has caused much concern, so it is no longer a problem of family. Instead, teen pregnancy has become a seriously social challenge. Because the consequences that teenagers cause are substantial, both family and society need to implement as many solutions as possible. To reduce risk for teen pregnancy, some of the following ways, such as supervision enhancement, censorship to the media, and sex education, should be implemented.

Strict supervision of parents is considered the first step to prevent them from bad habits, especially prevent the girls from pregnancy. Because of changes in the body, the teenagers’ temper could be a little bit affected. Teenagers prefer having a friend over a supervisor. Therefore, instead of lecture, parents should tell stories about friendship or true love whenever their children are close. Family is not the center of an individual’s life, so Americans don’t spend much time with each other. This is actually a gap between the parents’ love and caring to their children. It is essential for the parents and the children to have clear talks about the sexual attitudes and values. Besides, parents should be the first ones who know their kid’s friends. Shortly, criticism and humiliation are considered extremely outrageous and should be avoided in parental supervision.

If parents could get to know their children’s friend, parents would monitor what their children watch or play. Can the censorship defend sex and violence in American media? In fact, no one can deny there is a close connection between media, sex, and teen pregnancy. Because of sexual images, the media are also considered a key element that has caused teen pregnancy. Regardless of the danger of sex movies, television producers keep crossing the line on violence and sex. According to one study on sex, violence, and the media,” “During a typical week, teens can see about 57 sexual behaviors on afternoon television and 143 during prime time” (Clark 4). Hence, facing with the increasing danger of the media, why would the government not step in? Although the media industry contribute a lot to the locals financially, it’s not acceptable if violence and sex completely control this industry. People cannot just sit back and hope the guns and drugs will go away. Instead, people have to raise their voice for what to be put on air, on video, and on screen. The censorship of the government might require a lot of time, but the censorship of the parents could be applied immediately. It’s a good idea that children do not have television or computer in their own room.

Preventing teens from pregnancy requires the efforts of family, society, and school. For best results, sex education must be taught seriously at home, in public places and at school. In western countries, sex education has been ruled by two notions. The first one is that children learn about the sexual problems, such as the body, the body development, sex, sex safety, sexually transmitted diseases, and birth control. The second one especially emphasizes on the passion, desire, and continence. Yet, most of the schools tend to balance these two with physiological sex education. The poor and the colored used to be considered the leaders in teen sex or pregnancy. But this idea is wrong because teenagers who are sexually active belong to the poor and “good” families.

As mentioned in “Preventing Teen Pregnancy,” “From 1982 to 1988, the proportion of sexually active females in middle-class families increased from 40 percent to 50 percent. By contrast, sexual activity among teenagers in less affluent families remained at about 56 percent” (Glazer 4). Moreover, Glazer also points out in the article, “By 1980, a third of white teen births were to unmarried girls. In 1990, out-of-wedlock births typified the majority – at 56 percent of white teen births” (5). It is a shortcoming if birth control methods are not mentioned in sex education. Popularly, condoms and birth control pills are used to prevent pregnancy. Condoms, if used correctly, can help prevent not only pregnancy, but also other sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV-AIDS. Unlike condoms, pills can help prevent pregnancy only.

In reality, no one can deny there are many teenagers involved in sex organization. It is argued that unwanted pregnancies would be the results of sexual services, and that a deal for sex is made only when a female and a male agree. This may be true because the government of many countries cannot completely control the marketing activities of sexual networks. Erasing these networks is a must, but it requires a huge source of humans and wealth. Hence, a long-term plan and a global co-operation are needed. Yet, there is a question that must be discussed: Who are the girls in those sexual services? Obviously, they are either low-educated or sexually addicted people. Regardless of the addicted people, others who use sex for a living often don’t have a good educational background. These girls themselves could be illegitimate children or could be the drop-outs early. They get in the sex trade because they don’t know the danger of sex and the threat of sexually transmitted diseases. Therefore, sex education is very necessary for teenagers. Not only sex education contributes to protect teenagers from the traps of sex trade organizations, it also instills values and self-esteem in teenagers.

America is an affluent nation, but teen pregnancy here has increased. Instead of contributing to the American affluence, teenagers who become pregnant early are really a burden for society. These teenagers themselves might drop out of high school and be dependent on either their parents or the social welfare. So, will these teenagers’ children be successful later? Although there are many ways to prevent or reduce the rate of pregnancy in teens, the teenagers’ sense of responsibility is also needed. People cannot change the direction of the wind, but people can change sailing their boat.

In any circumstances, family is a place that bears the consequences caused by the teens. Teen pregnancy not only ruins the future of teenagers, but it also affects the whole family of teenagers. Besides the mental damages, teenagers get other physical damages from having sex too early. One of those damages could be the threat of infertility after an abortion or psychological trauma. Teen pregnancy could be avoided if there is a close collaboration between family, school, and society.

Works Cited

Author unknown. “Teen Sex Reality.” Los Angeles Times 23 October 2004 Proquest Direct. Oxnard College Library, Oxnard. 31 March 2005 .

Clark, Charles S. “Sex, Violence and the Media.” The CQ Researcher Online (1995). 18 April 2005. Oxnard College Library, Oxnard. 31 March 2005 .

Glazer, Sarah. “Preventing Teen Pregnancy.” The CQ Researcher Online (1993). 18 April 2005. Oxnard College Library, Oxnard. 31 March 2005 .

Koch, Kathy. “Encouraging Teen Abstinence.” The CQ Researcher Online 8.25 (1998). 28 March 2005 . Document ID: cqresrre1998071000.

Weiner, Robert. “Teen Behavior is Focus of Meeting of Schechter Parents.”