Teenage Pregnancy and Inner City Families

The teenage years are difficult for many young girls. Adolescence is a time when everything is changing; bodies, hormones, relationships, goals, etc... and a time when highly emotional or self-destructive decisions can be made without consideration of the immediate consequences. Teenagers exist in a world where they are not quite children, but not yet adults. What happens when you throw a baby in the mix? The difficulties increase ten-fold.

Girls who should be focusing on exams and dances are instead focusing on bottles and diapers. Girls who might have just worked on weekends and a few hours after school in order to fund nights out, the latest styles in clothing, and perhaps help their family with money are now being faced with having to support their offspring. Girls who should be casually dating and learning how to form relationships with the opposite sex are now begging and pleading for the father of their child to acknowledge him or her and shoulder some responsibility for his child. Girls who should be thinking about what college to apply for are wondering if they will even be able to graduate from high school.

Although the rate of teenage pregnancy has been declining in recent years, there is still an alarming number of girls becoming pregnant annually. "...approximately one million young women get pregnant each year... More than half a million carry their babies to term, and about two-thirds of them will be unmarried when they give birth" (Skolnick 483).

Teenage mothers face difficulties other older mothers may not. If they stay in school they will have to balance their course work with taking care of a child and working longer hours than high school students normally have to. Some girls can rely on their own parents to support them and their child in many ways, but not all are this lucky. Many teenage mothers face a long road of exhaustion, frustration, and desperation.

In spite of the difficulties teenage mothers are faced with, not every pregnancy is accidental. "Although some teenagers try and prevent pregnancy and fail, others get pregnant because they believe pregnancy is not such a bad thing. Young, unmarried women, like married ones, may become pregnant because they want to, or because they are not sufficiently motivated to avoid it" (Skolnick 494). Some women bypass birth control methods because they are uncomfortable or inconvenient. Others are willing to risk pregnancy because they believe their partner is commited to them and will support them if they conceive. Still others have babies because they want to have someone to love and to be loved by someone. Young girls hardly take into consideration the ways their lives will change and the price they and their baby will have to pay.

Of pregnant teens whose child was planned, most come from economically disadvantaged homes. "According to other studies, poor teenagers are more likely than affluent ones to report that a pregnancy was intended, and are more likely to continue their pregnancies to term. Furthermore, those who become pregnant and who do not seek abortions tend to be less advantaged teenagers" (Skolnick 496). This may be in part due to a girl's lack of successful female role models, poor education system, limited parental supervision due to their parents haveing to work long hours, and lower expectations on them by adults in their life.

Teenage mothers and the babies they bear are not necessarily doomed. It is true they will be at a disadvantage and struggle, but with a good support system there is hope. One would think that inner city teenage mothers would be the most isolated and desperate because of poverty, but inner city families have strong ties and commitment to helping one another.

Inner city families often live in close proximity to one another and support each other in all ways. Take the story of a teenage mother named Shaquena for example. "The Harlem neighborhood Shaquena calls home is jam-packed with people - kin and friends - who visit one another, eat together, and borrow from one another when the need arises" (Skolnick 362). A teenage mother could benefit greatly from this type of interdependence. She could have someone to watch her child as she went to work and would have others to lean on when money was tight or times were tough.

Works Cited:

Skolnick, Arlene & Skolnick, Jerome (2005). Family in Transition. New York: Pearson Education.