Teen Pregnancy and Educational Attainment - Antonio Mihail

Teen Pregnancy and Educational Attainment

                Teen pregnancy has been one of the largest national conflicts in the United States, in recent decades. Its significance as an issue lies within its positive correlation with the low educational attainment of teenage mothers. Even though the rate of teen pregnancy has significantly been reduced within the nation in the last forty years, the United States still maintains the record for the highest rate of teen pregnancy among developed countries (Kearney, Levine 141). Post World War II economic theories correlated teen pregnancy with poverty, and labeled it as a feature of Third-World Countries. However, the United States has established itself as the most dominant economy in the world, since the turn of the twentieth century. How can the most dominant economic power have the highest rate of a characteristic of poverty, such as teen pregnancy, among other world powers? My research explains the reasons the United States still maintains a high rate of teen pregnancy today, how pregnancy and childbearing impact the educational attainment of teenagers, and how the educational attainment of teenagers from different social, racial, and economic backgrounds is affected by teen pregnancy.

            I began my research by keeping in mind the question "why does the U.S. have such a high rate of teen pregnancy compared to other developed countries?" America does a good job explaining to high school students the health risks of sexual activity, the negative impact of teen pregnancy on the lives on young parents, and the benefits of contraceptives. Every student is required to take a health class during high school, in order to graduate. Health classes are usually taken early on, usually during freshman year (Coyne, D'Onofrio 1). It seems like the U.S. is following correct procedures towards eliminating teen pregnancy, however, it still maintains a high rate and remains an issue. How could this be? All the scholarly articles I found on the internet led me in the same direction: teen pregnancy is an outcome of poverty, rather than a direct cause of it (Landsburg 1). Therefore, the United States has a high rate of teen pregnancy because it also has poverty, or an income inequality issue. The majority of teens keep getting pregnant not because they lack information about its risks and negative effects, but because they live in poverty and lack motivation to pursue their goals (Singh, Darroch, Frost 1).

            The reason a high rate of teen pregnancy is considered a problem is because of its negative effect on the educational attainment of those teens. There is a negative correlation between teen pregnancy and educational attainment (Marteleto, Lam, Ranchhod 1). Teens who get pregnant during high school are less likely to graduate than those who delay pregnancy until their late twenties (Dopkins Broecker, Hillard, DOI 10.3843/GLOWM.10414). Also, they are even less likely to attend college right after high school. I interviewed a high school mate of mine, Marilyn, who was pregnant during sophomore year, and gave birth in the beginning of junior year. She stated that she was currently not attending college because she does not have enough time to dedicate to her studies. Education requires a lot of time and effort. Evidently, teenage mothers do not have enough time to dedicate to their education, because they have to devote time to household duties and to provide for their children.

            After concluding that teen pregnancy correlates negatively with educational attainment, I examined how teen pregnancy affects students from different social, racial, and economic backgrounds. My research suggests that socio-economic status of a teenage girl determines the effect teen pregnancy will have on her educational attainment. Within the framework of the household production theory it can be argued that disadvantaged youth will not have received as much education as more advantaged youth due to resource constraints. The opportunity cost of having a baby in terms of foregone education will probably be quite low for the disadvantaged youth. In contrast, teenage mothers from a more upscale background may end up sacrificing more years of schooling (Seeborg, Kumazawa 102). Therefore, the impact that teen pregnancy has on educational attainment depends on the person’s background.

Births per 1,000 Females Aged 15–19 Years, by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity, 2007-2015

https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/young-teen-pregnancy/index.html

            Overall, the United States maintains the highest rate of teen pregnancy among developed countries. The U.S. tries to reduce teen pregnancy just like other nations, however, the methods used have proven to be ineffective. Implementing health classes in schools and informing students about contraceptives is not enough to prevent adolescents from getting pregnant. These current methods of reducing teen pregnancy have a significant positive effect on the educational attainment of those with the most favorable background characteristics but very little effect on those with the least favorable characteristics. It is important to understand that teen pregnancy is a result of poverty, rather than a direct cause of it. Hence, teen pregnancy is more common in underprivileged areas of the country. Since the most disadvantaged teen mothers would have dropped out of school at about the same time even if they had not gotten pregnant, preventing the pregnancy would have little effect on their educational attainment. To decrease the rate of teen pregnancy, poverty needs to be eliminated first. If the U.S. aims to encourage the educational attainment of economically disadvantaged teenage mothers, discouraging them from having babies will not help much. What may help, however, is to create programs to help them to increase their academic ability and to make educational resources available within the home. 

           I spent a lot of time researching teen pregnancy in the United States and its effect on the educational attainment of teenage girls. For that reason, I wanted to find the best way for this information to reach as many people as possible. Being only weeks away from receiving my teaching certification in Adolescent Education in Social Studies, I have realized that I can put my research into good use by sharing it with my future students. Thus, I created a lesson plan that will share the results of my research with my students. Also, students will be expected to design their own social programs that will make educational resources available within the home for disadvantaged students. It is not only important for everyone to understand this issue that is affecting American communities, but to also help come up with a solution. I have made the lesson plan public. Anyone can access it. I encourage all teachers out there to teach it to as many students as possible. I have also uploaded the lesson on a lesson-plan sharing website to increase its availability. 

Works Cited

Coyne, Claire A., and Brian M. D'onofrio. "Some (But Not Much) Progress Toward                                    Understanding Teenage Childbearing." Advances in Child Development and Behavior 43                     (2012):   113-52. Print.

DelRosario, Marilyn. "Teen Pregnancy, Educational Attainment, and Future Goals." Online                         interview. 1 Dec. 2015.

Dopkins Broecker, J, Hillard, P, Glob. libr. women's med., (ISSN: 1756-2228) 2009; DOI                              10.3843/GLOWM.10414

Kearney, Melissa, and Phillip Levine. "Why Is the Teen Birth Rate in the United States So High                   and Why Does It Matter?" Journal of Economic Perspectives 26.2 (2012): 141-66. Print.

Kumazawa, Risa, and Michael Seeborg. "Teen Mothers and Their Educational Attainment: Some                 Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth." The Journal Of Economics                       22.1 (1996): 95-104. Print.

Landsburg, Steve. "The Economics of Teenage Pregnancy." Http://www.thebigquestions.com.                       Empirical Puzzle, 14 May 2012. Web.

Marteleto, Leticia, David Lam, and Vimal Ranchhod. "Sexual Behavior, Pregnancy, and Schooling                among Young People in Urban South Africa." Http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Stud Fam  Plann, 

          1 Dec. 2008. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. <http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.26.2.141>.

Singh, Susheela, Jacqueline E. Darroch, and Jennifer J. Frost. "Socioeconomic Disadvantage and                   Adolescent Women's Sexual and Reproductive Behavior: The Case of Five Developed                         Countries." Family Planning Perspectives 33.6 (2001). Print.