teaches abstinence-only-until-marriage, and not only espouses "just waiting," but fails to generate information about contraception and human sexuality. (Rollins, 2002)
Unfortunately, for example, America has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates among all industrialized nations (Philliber, 2002). Similarly, countries with more open attitudes about human sexuality, and more factual and informative programs within their public schools have fewer teen pregnancies, fewer incidents of STDs, and a lower incidence of HIV among non-drug using teens (Valk, 2000)
According to the Global HIV Prevention Working Group 45 million more people will become infected with HIV by 2010 (Lite). Thus, HIV is a pandemic and part of medical culture for younger people, and, like any other disease, must be part of the curriculum at an understandable and appropriate level for each age group (Weinstein, 2005)
In the modern, developed world, however, teenage pregnancy is associated with not only social issues, but of dramatic political, economic, and medical issues surrounding the mother, child, and family members. Teenage pregnancy in the United States, for instance, usually results in lower educational levels for the mother and child, poverty, and often social stigma in many communities to the level where it becomes a public health issue (Wong, 1999)
If they are failing to completely achieve their aim in preventing teenage pregnancy this would therefore suggest that the main issue may lie in our understanding of the causes of the problem. It has been established for some time that there are certain demographic variables which may be associated with an increased risk of teen pregnancy, for example socioeconomic disadvantage, low educational expectation (Allen et al
It may be possible that using a computer-assisted data entry system may help to overcome the logistical issues which may arise from this task. This has been used in previous studies which have collected information from both parents and teens on sexual behavior and communication (Aspy et al
It has been established for some time that there are certain demographic variables which may be associated with an increased risk of teen pregnancy, for example socioeconomic disadvantage, low educational expectation (Allen et al., 2007), family type (Bonnell et al
However given the apparent complexity of the issue, it is unlikely that this simple overview of causation is likely to be useful in actual application of the findings. Therefore extra information which may allow the research findings to be used in intervention and policy design may be provided through the additional dimensions contributed by qualitative research (Burke Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004)
These health impacts are likely to increase the burden on the public health system in this country. In addition, the economic consequences are likely to be substantial, with teenage mothers less likely to receive a high school diploma, likely to earn less income, and more likely to rely on cash assistance (Fletcher & Wolfe, 2008)
The importance of lowering teen pregnancy rates is critical given the negative consequences so often associated with the condition. For example teenage mothers are associated with greater rates of neonatal and infant mortality, and also major neonatal morbidities, when compared with women in the 20 to 29 years age group (Gilbert et al
, 2004). In addition, long-term negative psychological consequences are likely to effect the health of mothers who give birth in their adolescent years (Hillis et al
Data Analysis Although the main focus of the study is on qualitative data, systematic analysis will still be applied in deriving conclusions. This will involve coding of the data which is collected to accurately assess trends in responses and agreements between family members on the level of communication occurring (Sinkovics et al
In particular, a grounded theory methodology will be employed. This paradigm is focused on deriving meanings and concepts from data based on observations in real settings (Suddaby, 2006)
The control group received similar content received without social learning exercises. The Parent-Adolescent Relationship Education (PARE) curriculum given to the experimental group focused on a social learning model that "includes teacher and peer modeling of desirable behaviors and the practice of these behaviors through role playing" (Lederman and Mian, 2003)
Still, impacts are obvious at a socio-economic level, in the meaning that the child will be less provided for than a child coming from a two parent family and conceived at a more mature stage in the lives of the parents. Additionally, the more important impacts at the level of the children of adolescent mothers are represented by the "shorter and longer term impact […], especially in terms of their physical and emotional development" (Arai, 2009)
As it has already been mentioned, children of teenage mothers tend to engage in more criminal activity, generating as such additional community problems with community safety, criminal pursuit and even costs with incarceration. Also, at the level of costs, teenager pregnancies are considered riskier, and they as such require more medical support, consuming more taxpayer money (Hermes)
For examples, women who have babies during their teens tend to have low levels of education, employment and earnings, and high levels of dependence on public assistance. They also spend more time than average as single parents" (Hoffmann and Maynard, 2008)
Kirby in a study titled Emerging answers: Research Findings on programs to reduce unwanted teenage pregnancy (2001), observes: "A large body of evaluation research clearly shows that sex and HIV education programs do not hasten the onset of sex, increase the frequency of sex, nor increase the number of sexual partners." (Kirby, 2001, p
Presently, sexual activity, rather than the pregnancies that can result from it, is seen as the problem requiring intervention. Teaching young people that premarital sex is a moral failure does not prevent pregnancy -- studies show that those with fearful and negative attitudes about sexuality are less likely to use contraception when they have sex than those who believe they have a right to decide to have sex (Reiss, 1990)
Conger's family stress model says that family is a significant cause of the negative emotions one experiences, so when a stressful event occurs, such as a teen pregnancy, this inordinately increases the stress levels of the people involved and can cause adverse consequences. The model basically sees family stress as a circular procession in which child outcomes, parenting indicators, poverty and stress indicators can all play a part (Friedman, Bowden & Jones, 2003)