Views and Experiences of Teenage Mothers on Teenage Pregnancy in the UK - Term Paper Example

Views and Experiences of Teenage Mothers on Teenage Pregnancy: Its Positives and Negatives and the Way Forward in the UK Introduction Sex in underageor teenage has been linked to teenage pregnancy. Since the early 1970s, in the UK, a trend of increasing teenage pregnancy is being observed in the lower teenage age group, with the majority of the teenage pregnancies occurring in 16- to 17-year-olds. As elucidated in the Teenage Report (2008), which has resulted from a report by the Social Exclusion Unit; although, there is a visible decrease in the incidence of teenage pregnancy rate in the UK, it is still clocking the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Western Europe. The recent decrease has been ascribed to more information on this social problem and continued work. Knowledge about this problem has been updated so it is now known that teenage pregnancy is both a result and cause of poverty. Young mothers have other problems such as low achievement and low aspirations (Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, 2008). Despite this, there is still a deficit of knowledge about the young people's views of the effectiveness of interventions to reduce the frequency of teenage pregnancy. It has been suggested that the views of young people, specially teenage mothers may suggest ways to reduce the frequency of teenage pregnancy more effectively. One such example may be that young people emphasise on interventions being person-centred. Young mothers perceive a lack of effective communication of health and education messages. They perceive the staff to be less educated and inadequately sensitive to the needs of young people. Peer education and help and services for young men are lacking. In the youth settings, there must be sexual health services for teenagers (Chambers et al., 2002, 85-90). Researchers have pointed to the roles of socioeconomic factors in teenage pregnancy. With rise in awareness, now the trend is teenage abortion which fails the purpose of preventive services, exposing the teenage mothers to a higher degree of vulnerability. It is true that there is no concrete information as to what would constitute better outcomes when dealing with teenage pregnancy. This points to the fact that it is necessary to ask the teenage mothers whether they perceive a pregnancy to be unwanted that ends in either birth or abortion. Indeed, there is an element of lack of understanding due to broader mismatch in communication. Review of literature suggests that other nonsexual health concerns are priorities in the case of teenagers, and sexual health rates lower in priority (Jacobsen et al., 1993). The Teenage Pregnancy Report shows that the UK rates of teen pregnancy are twice as high as Germany, three times higher than France, and Five times higher than the Netherlands. It has been found that the daughters of teen mothers are twice likely to be pregnant at their teenage. It is unfortunate, as the data suggest, that 75% of the teenage conceptions are unplanned, and about 50% of these result in abortion. The inadequacy of the services is highlighted by the fact that 20% of the births to the teen mothers are second teen pregnancies. The roles played by the socioeconomic factors are further highlighted by the fact that 50% of the teenage mothers exist in 20% of the wards with the highest rates (Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, 2008). It may be argued that this distribution has no socioepidemiologic implications. Reviews of interventions directed towards reduction of poor sexual health outcomes, which include unplanned pregnancy, show that interventions have little to no role to influence sexual behaviour and contraceptive use. This has occurred mainly due to the fact that despite increased knowledge about sexual health, knowledge does not seem to influence the decision of the teens to have safe sex practices, cautious and risk-free sexual behaviour, and contraceptive use (Levine et al., 2001). These happen due to generalisation of such interventions across a varied population. Populations are usually defined by different demographic characteristics and cultural influences. The individual perspectives of sexual health and behaviours are guided by values and beliefs, rather than education (Macleod, 2003). Research into each of these different aspects of adolescent deviance often implicates disadvantageous socio-economic, class-based and familial structural factors in the early experience of many young people at risk, suggesting that deviance is a reaction to exclusion. This exclusion can be actual or felt, and the teenage motherhood from that perspective can be seen as an attempt to deny social invisibility and to leave a footprint that others can see. In this relation some more facts that were elicited by this teen pregnancy report are worth mentioning (Mayhew and Bradshaw, 2005). Teenage mothers are more likely to have postnatal depression, suffer from poor mental health for the next three years from the time of motherhood, and they are more prone to smoking. Many of them, about 40% have no qualifications, 70% discontinued education. Most have no training or work. Their babies have higher mortality rates. Those who survive are twice likely to live in poverty and consistently achieve less at schools (Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group, 2008). Programmes of education are often less effective to prevent, particularly when delivered in schools. Their ability to change some aspect of the psychosocial environment of the young person is essentially limited in order to be able to be enduring. By early adolescence most young people will have acquired a set of attitudes and dispositions. Poverty has to be seen within the overall dynamic of lack of opportunity, inappropriate role models and lack of a sense of future. Exclusion is less a positive act than an endemic socialised experience. Exclusion relates to lack of personal power and lack of choice, real or felt, an inability to shape one's future within the status quo (DfES, 2006). Medically seen, teenage pregnancy is a matter of intervention and is largely viewed as a problem in the society. Systemic review of medical literatures indicates medical, financial, and social problems for both teenage mothers and their children (Wellings et al., 2001). These reviews also suggested that sex education and access to services to these mothers must be enhanced and connected to the suffering teenage population. Socioeconomic deprivation indeed is a known promoter; however, it can be argued that it is more associated with increased risks. What are absent are the perspectives of the teenagers and young people (Gillies, 2005). The study by Jwell et al. (2000) reveals some views of teenage mothers. Socially disadvantaged mothers have different attitude towards teenage pregnancy. This may be related to ways of seeing the future (Jewell et al., 2000). As expected these teenagers cannot put emphasis on career, education, personal development, or money. The socially disadvantaged thinks the best time to start a family is between 17 to 25 (Chambers et al., 2002). The socially advantaged think it is very difficult to cope with a pregnancy at teenage, and they would opt for abortion if they would be pregnant accidentally. Some of the disadvantaged mothers thought about abortion, but they could not ultimately go through it due to a lack of reason that was good enough despite being pregnant unprepared (Davies et al., 2001). Some preferred to conceal the pregnancy in the early stages and hence no chance to go for termination. The experience of being pregnant so early had led to mixed feelings. Many of the teen mothers loved their children, but they were not without regrets for being pregnant, financial, social, familial restrictions. There is a considerable extent of social stigmatisation against the teen mothers; many teenagers used derogatory and stereotypical terms to describe the teen mothers (Spear, 2004). Many teen mothers thought that they tended to become sexually active young, and since they were already practicing sex, the sex education is too late, too theoretical, does not explain contraception adequately, and do not deal with the emotional experience of teen sex. Rather, they wanted peer education. Many think their behaviour was inappropriate, although the realisation comes late. The Cabinet Office (2000) defined SEU to be 'a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown.' The concept of social inclusion can be utilised to help the teenage mothers through these units (Cabinet Office, 2000). It has been a policy priority in the area of teenage pregnancy. Since teenage pregnancy is strongly associated with the most deprived and socially excluded young people, an approach to social exclusion may alleviate the problems with teen motherhood, namely, poor family relationship, low self-esteem, and unhappiness at school. Having an early motherhood at teens also potentiates the exclusion further by damaging health and wellbeing and by limiting education and career (Kidger, 2004). The way forward suggests steps that have been accepted by the Government in their current national teenage pregnancy strategy in order to reduce the current rates of teenage conception and to achieve a reduction in long-term social exclusion of these children and their parents (Arai, 2003). This can be achieved through better sex and relationship education delivered in the community, family, schools, or through peers; better and well linked information, contraceptive, and advice services; better social support of the teenage mothers and parents; and development of local culturally compatible media strategy to raise awareness and promote social participation (Teenage Pregnancy Unit, 2004). To this end, a teenage pregnancy unit which is young people centred, where partnership working is facilitated through long-term and sustained work is indicated. Teenage parents must receive support and advice for parenting, housing, and other benefits, and they must be supported to engage in education and training (de Jonge, 2001). Pregnant mothers must be cared antenatally through programmes of targeted youth support, and they would be placed on affordable housing with appropriate support extended. Hopefully, with this the picture will change in the near future (Teenage Pregnancy Unit, 2005). Reference and Bibliography Arai, L. (2003) British Policy on Teenage Pregnancy and Childbearing: the Limitations of Comparisons with other European Countries; Critical Social Policy 23(1), 89-102. Cabinet Office, The Social Exclusion Unit Leaflet, www.cabinet-office-gov.uk/seu/index/march July 2000 Chambers, R., Boath, E., and Chambers, S., (2002). Young people's and professionals' views about ways to reduce teenage pregnancy rates: to agree or not agree. J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care; 28(2): 85-90. Davies, L., McKinnon, M. and Rains, P. (2001). Creating a Family: Perspectives from Teen Mothers. Journal of Progressive Human Services 12(1), 83-100. de Jonge, A., (2001). Support for teenage mothers: a qualitative study into the views of women about the support they received as teenage mothers. J Adv Nurs; 36(1): 49-57. DfES (2006). Teenage Pregnancy: Accelerating the Strategy to 2010. Every Child Matters: Change for Children. DfES Publications Nottingham. 7-16. Gillies, V. (2005). Meeting Parents' Needs Discourses of "Support" and "Inclusion" in Family Policy; Critical Social Policy 25(1), 70-90. Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group (2008). Teenage Pregnancy. Department for Children, Schools & Families. London Jacobsen, L., Wilkinson, C., and Owen, P., (1993). Teenage pregnancy. Seek the views of teenagers. BMJ; 306: 1750. Jewell, D., Tacchi, J., and Donovan, J., (2000). Teenage pregnancy: whose problem is it. Fam. Pract.; 17: 522 - 528. Kidger, J. (2004). Including Young Mothers: Limitations to New Labour's Strategy for Supporting Teenage Parents; Critical Social Policy 24, 291-311 Levine, J., Pollack, H. and Comfort, M. (2001). Academic and Behavioural Outcomes Among the Children of Young Mothers; Journal of Marriage and Family 63, 355-69. Macleod, C. (2003). Teenage Pregnancy and the Construction of Adolescence', Childhood 10, 419-37. Mayhew, E. and Bradshaw, J. (2005). Mothers, babies and the risks of poverty. Poverty No.121 p13-16 Spear, HJ., (2004). A follow-up case study on teenage pregnancy: "havin' a baby isn't a nightmare, but it's really hard". Pediatr Nurs; 30(2): 120-5. Teenage Pregnancy Unit (2004) Implementation of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Progress Report, London: Teenage Pregnancy Unit. Teenage Pregnancy Unit (2005) Teenage Pregnancy Unit, London: Teenage Pregnancy Unit. Wellings, K. et al. (2001) Sexual Health in Britain: early heterosexual experience. The Lancet vol.358: p1834-1850 Read More