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Teen parenting these days is a startling epidemic. In fact, the U. S. leads all other developed nations in incidences of pregnancy among adolescents age 15 - 19 (Robinson). With all of the problems that we are currently facing as a nation one would not think that this would be one of the worst, but it is. The rates that contribute to the high averages of teen pregnancies are appalling.
For every five girls you see, three of them are having babies (Moorer). These rates have done nothing but escalate alarmingly over the past few years. The rates of teen fathers with children are some of the most appalling. According to Maureen Pirog-good, writer and researcher, roughly 7 percent of young men become fathers in their teens.
With the growing lack of responsibility in todays youth these rates are only to be expected. By researching the lives and facts of teen fathers, one finds risk factors that contribute to this spreading epidemic. There are many factors that contribute to the growing number of teen fathers. Some these rates are often affected by demographic factors such as race and age. Fathers between the age of 14 and 21 are of the following racial backgrounds: 2 % white, 5 % black, and 2 % Hispanic (Thornberry). Some of the higher rates of teen fathers are those for teen males of the younger age group.
Fourteen year olds are getting 17 - 18 year old girls pregnant (Moorer). There are many other factors that contribute to higher rates of teen fathers these days. One of the most obvious factors is the delinquency rate among todays male youth. The numbers of males that are getting in trouble with the law directly affect the number of teen fathers in todays society.
Along with delinquency, disruptive behavior, and high arrest rates prove to be helpful to teenage fatherhood (Thornberry). Our younger generation is getting in criminal situations more and more often. Over the past four years alone delinquency rates have nearly tripled in proportion. Directly affecting this rate, is the rates of males under twenty-five that are, or have been involved in some kind of gang activity.
Young males that are involved in gangs are also more likely to produce offspring and not take responsibility for their children. Society has been working for many years now to lower these rates. Although one would not expect it to be, teens that use drugs are also shown to have a high pregnancy and fatherhood rate. This kind of behavior has also been found to bring about children with severe life long medical disorders and complications.
The rates of fathers that use drugs have driven up on the scales more recently. Substance abuse contributes and complicates teen fatherhood. Most of the teen fathers that are not using drugs are still involved in the drug world in some kind of shape or form. These rates are some of the most frightening since they not only show an increase in the teen fatherhood rate, but also when you consider the safety of these young families.
With all of the violence over drugs in todays world it is not really safe any more to bring a child into this kind of situation. The chances are good that if these parents are using drugs that these drugs will affect their offspring. Of the one million teenage girls that become pregnant each year, 14 % of them miscarry (Di Consiglio). Some of the few complications that can arise from this accelerated drug use include but are not limited to epilepsy, babies that are born addicted, low birth weight, and premature birth.
Children of teen parents are more likely than average to be physically abused by many of these health problems (Kiselica). The neighborhood that these young teen fathers grow up in has also been known to affect who has children at a younger age and who doesnt. It is a known fact that the environment that males are in when they are younger directly affects the lifestyle that they choose to live by. As stated by Thornberry, young males are more likely to become fathers if they live in neighborhoods characterized by poverty, high arrests, and social disorganization. If one grows up in a poorly groomed neighborhood then s / he are, of course, more likely to live a less than desirable lifestyle. The friends that one will inevitably make while living in this type of rough environment can also help this rate to increase.
If you grow up surrounded by people who behave a certain way than of course the chances are higher that you will follow the example that they will lead for you. Even more, teenage fathers are two times likely to commit a delinquent act than their friends who do not have children (Breslin). The poverty rates in these neighborhoods are also alarmingly higher than they are in other atmospheres. With the numbers of poor people living in government housing on the rise so is the number of teen males producing children. As a result of these poverty levels most of these fathers are also completely unable to even support these children in any way at all.
Another contributing factor is the family backgrounds of young people these days, which have shown a decline as far as morals and values are concerned. Many teen fathers come from home, which consist of one parent. Furthermore, parents are no longer making teaching their children about real life one of their top priorities. These days the parents are so busy trying to barely hold their lives together that they dont have a much time to dedicate to their children as they used to. Also the parents of todays youth have usually been just as irresponsible with their lifestyles as their children are being. More and more often one is seeing the parents of todays youth also having to many children to even keep their hands on.
Research proves that teen fathers of all races come from households with more siblings and poverty stricken (Pirog-good). In this form the number of siblings that an individual has can directly affect whether they become parents at an early age or not. It is a well known fact that children who live in a home with many siblings just want to get out of their house as soon as they see possible. Many of them figure that one of the easiest ways to get out of the house sooner is to produce a family of their own. Although this is definitely the wrong way to go about spreading ones wings and flying this is how most of todays youth choose to go about doing it. Another factor that affects this statistic is the number of individuals that live in this home.
Often when you are involved in a lifestyle such as this one cannot expect just the mother, father, and siblings to live in the home. In some cases friends relatives and sometimes just people that you or your family members will also stay in the home. When the already influenced child sees all of these people that they do not really know coming in and out of the house all of the time how can they possibly be expected to also continue to stay in the home and try to follow a proper lifestyle that consist of good moral values. Another factor that ends up tying in to the family background is the financial status of the people in the home. Fathers of teen fathers were less likely to hold professional jobs and were more apt to work as laborers (Price-good). This factor ends up tying into, in some way, with almost every factor that we have discussed.
With these children having to find any way that they can to make money it is not a big surprise that they end up opting for the lifestyles that they so often choose to go for. These young people often will feel obligated to take care of the family including the children that are not even really their responsibility. They often get so used to taking care of the children in the family that they, for the most part, assume that they could take care of children of their own if they wanted to. These young people live a harsh lifestyle and end up spending everyday worrying about where their brothers next meal will come from. These youth are all to often the ones that end up taking to the street and dealing drugs in order to put food on their families table. The rates of poverty in this world are horrendous.
When you yell at the children for the type of lifestyle that they are leading you must remember that they have learned this way of life from their parents. Also in looking at a teen father it is necessary to look at the way that he was raised as a child himself. Look at how old his parents were when they had him. The average teen father is half the age of his parents (Hollander). Look at the financial situation that the generation before him was facing.
It must be considered that the environment that a child is in directly affects the environment that they themselves will most likely end up involved in when it comes to the future. Also, when looking at the poverty rates, please remember that poverty breeds poverty. If you are born into a poor world than the chances are better than good that you will die in a poor world. It is also necessary that you consider the support that todays youth is getting from those that are around them. How do the people at their home treat them when they have conflicts in their lives? When there is no one...
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