Adolescent pregnancy refers to a pregnancy type that occurs to females of 19 years and below. In the recent past, adolescent pregnancy has become a global problem that is taking place in all countries whether low, middle or high income countries As a result, it is referred to a high risk situation to mothers, the babies and the entire society. Described below are the various risk factors to adolescent pregnancy:
Development of hypertension
This is high blood pressure developed during any pregnancy and it is termed as dangerous to both the unborn baby and the mother.The condition is dangerous because it damages very important organs of the teen mother like the kidneys. It can also lead to an underweight baby when the baby is finally born.
Most Infants born to adolescent mothers tend to have complications to their breathing given that the infants are born before date due to the fact that the teen age mother had not fully developed. Due to this, the respiratory organs for the infant will not have developed properly. Pre mature births also lead to other complications like heart problems like patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).
Most women get depressed due to unwanted pregnancies and it’s even worse when it comes to teens (Creighton-Zollar, 2015). This is due to the fact that hormones are still on the process of growing during the teen years and where the hormonal chaos of pregnancy can even add to the same thus the teen pregnant risk being overcome by depression.
Drug and alcohol abuse
In order to do away with the stress and depression experienced due to the early pregnancies, the teens tend to be involved with drugs and alcohol abuse. The whole society joins in as a result of massive drug abuse takes place.
Adolescent pregnancy being a global issue in the recent past, it has called for coalition within many states and come up programs and resources (Fine, 2013.) Some of them as follows:
Adolescent Sibling Pregnancy Prevention Program (ASPPP) created in 1996 in California which is taking place at 44 nonprofit agencies, school districts, community based organizations .the ASPPP has a target for brothers and sisters of pregnant and teens parenting. The program was a success for there was a reduction in pregnancy rate and other numerous pregnancy related behaviors in this high risk situation. Although at times the programs are posed by challenge of implementation, they have a great promise for the significant lowering of rates of teen age pregnancy and also births. (East, Kiernan, Chavez, 2003)
The Texas Health Adolescent Initiative (THAI) located in six Texas communities is a community based initiative that aimed at building local youth system in order to improve health and well-being of youths. Its aim is to reduce the rates of adolescent pregnancy, school dropout and adolescent substance abuse.
Over the last ten years, in the United States, teen birth rates have had a decrease of up to 37 percent. The decrease is due to the encouragement by health personnel on the use of contraceptives, creation of social awareness through media, door to door safety measures and many others.
Creighton-Zollar, A. (2015). Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood. New York: Garland.
Fine, J. (2013). Adolescent pregnancy prevention in a staff-model HMO. Journal of Adolescent Health, 22(2), p.175.
James, J. (2018). allnurses | Community For Nurses And Students. online Allnurses.com. Available at: http://allnurses.com/ Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Sugar, M. (2014). Adolescent pregnancy in the USA: Problems and prospects. Adolescent and Pediatric Gynecology, 4(4), pp.171-185.