Teen Pregnancy: Social and Economic Costs

Abstract

This essay describes the consequences of teenage pregnancy in the U.S. Social and economic aspects are noted, and the findings displayed are used to show the societal and economic costs on the mother, child and public sector. The research presented is in response to three key unanswered issues concerning the aftermath of adolescent childbearing; first, the socioeconomic effects on the well-being of the mother and child; secondly, factors that differentiated successful young mothers from the unsuccessful ones; thirdly, the consequences of teenage pregnancies on governmental expenditures.

Results found a negative impact on the unsuccessful mothers on their psycho-social welfare and economic independency due to lack of education and increased demands for earnings. Simultaneously, this phenomenon has a negative impact on governmental costs in aid for young mothers living in poverty.

Introduction

Parenthood significantly changes a woman’s or man’s life. Preceded with 9 months of pregnancy and followed by taking care of the child commonly does not allow parents any available time for other activities. Although parents are usually never prepared for child raising, those who are older and/or married, who are employed, and wage-earners have the resources to adapt adequately.

The demands of parenthood are a shock to the unmarried teenagers who are engaged in school, dependent on their parents and who know insufficiently about raising a child. Given the responsibilities and demands that are attached to parenthood, the sacrifices young parents take cannot be ignored without risk. This research essay focuses on the undesirable aftereffects of adolescent pregnancies on education, social and economic welfare of the mother and societal costs.

Methods

The studies referred in this essay are provided from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy. The study measured ages at which the young teenagers participated in the sexual activity which led to their pregnancy. Thus, this is associated with an analysis of education, number of children and/or family size. Further studies have been conducted in a way where the age 18 is simply dichotomized to compare high school dropout rates. Moreover, the paper provides studies that have analysed the factors which have led to successful young mothers years after they gave birth.

The results displayed in the third section are prepared from two studies; National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy and Childbearing. The results have estimated total program costs and benefits from a societal perspective in which teenagers were aided. Moreover, it calculates the average annual operating costs of the program in 1982 including salaries, benefits, maintenance, food and expenses for fundraising activities.

Results

The first question in priority is how, the social and economic factors affect the well-being of the mother and family members? Most of the research focuses on the young women whereas relevant data for the children are also available.

Schooling

The most generic sequence of events that lead to childbearing goes along the lines of schooling, marriage then pregnancy. However, when young women do not adhere to the conventional steps of childbearing and thus get impregnated during their adolescent years, they most commonly face problems with finding time for school engagement and attendance. Among all high school dropouts in the U.S, 30% of girls claim that pregnancy or parenthood is the main reason they left school.

Approximately 60% of adolescent mothers at the age of 18 – 19 earn a high school diploma and 13% a GED compared to 89% of female students who did not give birth as teenagers. This result appears to be worse for female students under the age of 18; only 38% of them earn a high school diploma in the later years. For these unfortunate teenagers, balancing child-raising and school work was impossible. For a clearer understanding the graph below shows results in accordance to the study conducted.

According to National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, young mothers are three times more likely to live in poverty. In fact, nearly 63% of the teenagers receive public benefits within the first year after giving birth.

What are the impacts of these results on the mothers and children? A 2016 study published in The American Journal of Maternal/Child nursing denotes symptoms of depression are two to four times higher in adolescent mothers in comparison to their peers. High levels of depression massively affect the relationship between the mother and infant and may even affect the child’s emotional and intellectual development. Furthermore, these mothers may encounter lack of emotional and social support from their child’s father and parents; a fall-out in the relationship with the baby’s father; discrimination from schoolmates, teachers, employers and relatives.

However, what are the effects on the children? Children of teenage mothers are more likely to be born at low birth weight, have lower reading scores and vocabulary, suffer abuse, get incarcerated, drop out of high school and become teen parents. Furthermore, compared to mothers of ages above 20, young adolescent mothers are 2.2 times more likely to have a child placed in foster care during the first 5 years after birth.

Economic Well-being

The evidence displayed in this paper is based on three studies, which all three showed consistent results: there is no direct impact of teenage childbearing on women’s hourly wages. Nevertheless, there appears to be an indirect effect on these mothers. Research found that adolescent mothers earn less than other later mothers or those who are childless.

An early birth increases the size of the family but simultaneously decreases the proportion of years worked. On the other hand, as aforementioned, almost half of teenage mothers do not earn a high school diploma thus making it harder for them to get employed. Adding all these details, giving birth at an early age is associated with reduced earnings, all due to limited education and increased obligation for economic support.

Factors Leading to Successful Early Child Bearers

An outstanding study explored all the factors which led young parents to successful lives. The researchers followed up a sample of 300 women in Baltimore who had their child before or at the age of 18 one, three, five and seventeen years after birth. The outcomes of the women taken as samples seventeen years later were still receiving welfare or  were economically secure and dependent and making a total of $25,000 or more per year.

Three families from the 500 women showed successful economic well-being. The family resource factors were: high parental education, small family size and welfare experience as a child. Moreover, intrinsic motivators including high school performance, school continuation or educational aspirations encouraged the young mothers to continue their education and be less dependent on welfare programs.

Societal Impacts

Low levels of educational achievement among teenage mothers reduce employment opportunities and economic independencies later in life. Additionally, a state loses its working force, purchasing power and collects fewer taxes. According to The Alliance for Excellent Education, estimations predict that if in one state 90% of students had earned a high school diploma in 2012, the state’s economy would benefit from approximately $64 million increased annual earnings and $5 million increased annual state and local revenues.

Moreover, different sets of data from Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy and Childbearing have been analysed in attempt to show the overall expenditures of the AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) to households in which the mother gave birth during her adolescent years. The results show that around $4.65 to $5 billion expenses have been made for these mothers in the U.S.; adding food stamp and medication benefits these expenditures increase to a total of $8.55 billion.

Discussion

Adolescent mothers are faced with not only meeting the needs of their infant but also seeking ways to meet their own needs as a teenager. This dual challenge may interfere with the teenager’s ability to grasp the parenting role and bond with her new born 4-6 weeks post birth which is the most critical period that sets the foundations of their relationship.

Furthermore, without the sufficient knowledge and skills, guidance and social support young mothers may feel overwhelmed in their new role as a parent. They need to be encouraged to attend classes, to continue their education and to find economic support. Reducing all teenage pregnancies would protect female adolescents from poverty and the public-sector billions of dollars. Thus, it is safe to advocate the idea that reducing fertility among teenagers is the most effective, consistent and preferable method of reducing governmental costs.

Therefore, how can adolescent pregnancies be reduced? According to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancies, nearly half (47.8%) of teenagers in the U.S have regular sexual intercourse with peers. Despite governmental costs, serious consequences are at stake for these young girls and boys and ways of preventing unwanted teenage pregnancies should be at the highest priority. Acknowledging that teenagers are having regular intercourse is another step closer to preventing unwanted pregnancies.

Parents and teachers are both responsible for sex education to these young adults. Sex-talk should not be a taboo conversation; being in denial of the fact that sex becomes a physiological need in an adolescent’s life is not an effective approach to the problem. Teenagers should be comfortable to talk to their parents or guidance counsellors about it and should be able to ask for help rather than dealing with the consequences due to lack of education.

Conclusion

This review has included only those studies that addressed the socioeconomic outcomes of the young mothers, most of which received healthcare benefits from the public sector. All the studies cited are consistent in at least one aspect. Moreover, they all come to find the negative impacts of adolescent pregnancies on teenage girls, their families and governmental expenditures.

This research essay is particularly important because it reveals the process in which teenage pregnancies affects later economic well-being on the mother and public sector. First, as aforementioned, most of the economic consequences on the mother and family are indirect due to different variables, but more significantly due to termination of education and family background. However, this paper provided examples and factors which led women towards prosperity despite giving birth at a young age which shows the positive side of this phenomenon.

Finally, the same factors that influenced the economic well-being of the mothers are simultaneously the same factors which increase public sector costs in aid for pregnant teenagers.

Although most of the research conducted in this essay has analysed the impact on the mother and child, more research should be conducted to describe the impacts and consequences on the well-being of the father.

References

1. Sammons, Mary B. (2011, August 18). 9 Ways to Prevent Your Teen’s Pregnancy. Retrieved from https://www.popsugar.com/moms/9-Ways-Prevent-Your-Teen-Pregnancy-27331501
2. Suellentrop, K. (2010, August 17). The Costs and Consequences of Teen Childbearing). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ppt/nchs2010/29_Suellentrop.pdf
3. Hofferth, S.L, Hayes C.D, (1987) Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing, Volume II: Working Papers and Statistical Appendices. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1987. CHAPTER 6, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF TEENAGE CHILDBEARING. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK219229/
4. NCSL (2014, February). Teen Pregnancy: Impact on Education and the Economy. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/documents/health/TPinAREducandEcon214.pdf
5. King, J.T, (2013). How Does Being Pregnant Affect a Teenage Mother. Retrieved from http://pregnancy.lovetoknow.com/wiki/How_Does_Being_Pregnant_Affect_a_Teenage_Mother
6. DeVito, J. (2010). How Adolescent Mothers Feel About Becoming a Parent. The Journal of Perinatal Education, 19(2), 25–34. http://doi.org/10.1624/105812410X495523