Why are people getting pregnant at a younger age?
I have noticed that as time progresses, more and more people are getting pregnant much sooner. The High School in northern Indiana also has a sex education class and the percentages are still high and rising. I graduated last year from that school with 10% of the class pregnant or already have children. The junior class this year has a 20% of pregnany or already have children?!?! Is there any other places out there that notice the same thing I do? If so where and do you know the percentages? Are they rising or decreasing? Is the school doing anything about it? Obviously the sex education class is not working for my old High SChool.
Thank you grayhare for that long response! I really didn’t think about they are actually making it publicized now and not leaving or aborting the baby! That makes sense. Its really sad that parents aren’t helping with the situation as much as they could. My sister was pregnant at 15, a sophomore in high school and stayed in school and graduated. Alot of people, i dont know percentage, drop out of school and get a GED or jsut drop out. The GED is better than nothing. I can see now that maybe my areas school has a high percentage rate. I know my graduating class had 19 people as parents or pregnant out of 200. My sisters junior class has about 35 out of 190. Just didn’t know if other peoples areas had high percentages. Thanks again!
June 26th, 2010 at 3:01 am
no morals?
June 26th, 2010 at 4:30 am
I think its pretty high around my town , the amount of under 18 girls that have kids or are preg an just wow , I wish i knew . Reasons teens have kids , 1- to Young an immature an don’t consider they may get preg
2- just want to be on payments an get money
3- not enough love in their life an feel having someone to love will make it better an they will love them
June 26th, 2010 at 4:42 am
it doesn’t mater how much the school do sex education, they go out and do it no mater what,more you tell the kids don’t do it try and wait .truth is they go and do it plus it does take two.
June 26th, 2010 at 5:09 am
Historically, it depends on the region and the exact era at what age women would (on average) get their first child, as well as on social/economic standing.
Current issues include, I think: the overabundance of sex-related stuff in the media and in public, as well as relative affluence. Teenagers can afford to have kids nowadays, in a sense, despite not having a job, because their family and welfare etc will take care of them… it’s not such a big hassle as they can just dump the kid in daycare… it’s also not such a big shame anymore… your dad likely won’t beat you up and expel you for it, your community and friends won’t shun you. Sure, people will frown at you, but it’s just not as unacceptable as it used to be/is in certain other areas of the world. Feminism has made it okay to have sex before marriage, which has caused guys to pressure girls more to spread their legs, even when they’re teenagers, and the girls don’t think as much of it. Etc. Tons more reasons exist, but that gives some idea.
When it comes to somewhat older people (more like my age (22), not the teenage pregnancy thing), I chose to get pregnant now because I’d seen so much stuff about women having an education, and then a career, and then trying to have their first kid at age 35 or so and having trouble, that I didn’t want that, you know? And then if they finally do get pregnant, they tend to have a harder time adjusting to the loss of their career, and the reduction in income, etc.
June 26th, 2010 at 6:28 am
More people are waiting later in life to have kids, however the pregnancy rate in your town might be high.
June 26th, 2010 at 8:55 am
I don’t believe that’s true I mean in earlier times girls were married at age 12, 13 and had kids. It’s more like women are having kids at an older age than previous times, like women in New York start having kids in their late 30s >_>. It only seems weird because we’re taught it’s not right to have kids at that age due to society standards.
June 26th, 2010 at 9:09 am
No sex education class is going to help if teenagers have not developed helf-control and usually they haven’t. It’s one thing to know all the fatcts and quite another to stop at the right moment or be responsible enough at least to use a condom. That’s why I do not consider sexual freedom good. That freedom goes into the hands of children that don’t know how to use it responsibly.
June 26th, 2010 at 10:21 am
back in the day it was quite normal for a girl to be pregnant and married at 15.
contraceptives were taboo for a long time. now they are socially encouraged and we have so many more options for birth control than we used to. even though it seems like a lot in your area, teen pregnancy is actually on the decline.
June 26th, 2010 at 11:13 am
To me, that’s a sign that we as parents are not doing the homework. It is parent’s respo to inform our kids about the problems and responsibilities when it comes to pregnancy. We’re probably to busy trying to take some money home and not putting enough attention to what our kids are doing all day long and at “night” of course
June 26th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Actually, teen pregnancy rates for the country are on the decline (something like down 4%) from the 90′s to now. Ughhhhhh but I don’t rememebr the website I was on, so I can’t give you the link or check for exact figures. Sorry. It’s like having a word on the tip of your tongue you just can’t get out!
I honestly think it’s just more accepted and that more girls are following through with their pregnancies in the public eye, rather than having secret abortions or dropping out of school…or going to visit a faraway relative for approximately nine months then returning like nothing happened.
It’s not ideal in today’s society, but back in the 1800′s women got married and had babies at 16, 15, or younger. It’s bilogical correct…but not necessarily socially correct or the best idea in our modern society. Sometimes our bodies and ancient urges get the best of us though.
I DO NOT think most schools ar doing the right thing in the education department. Abstinence-only education is not going to work for about 80% of high school kids, they will choose to have sex anyway…and then they’re left with no knowledge of birth control use (or failure rates!) and they think pulling out is birth control, or that condoms are 100% effective. But I won’t place blame entirely on schools, because parents could certainly discuss these things with their children from a reasonable age as well.
Those are just my noticings, knowledge, and opinions.
June 26th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
It’s not that the sex education classes aren’t working it’s that the students aren’t listening and they believe what their peers tell them rather than to the facts. Thinks like “you can’t get pregnant your first time”, wanna make a bet? or “you have to orgasm in order to get pregnant”, wanna make a bet? I’ve been pregnant twice and didn’t orgasm either time. It’s not the orgasm, it is the sperm and the ovum that create a pregnancy. Then there is “you can’t get pregnant standing up”. “You can’t get pregnant in the water”, “You can’t get pregnant on pre-ejaculate” (this is a great one because pre-ejaculate is more concentrated with sperm than the full ejaculate.)I’m figuring you’ve probably already heard these and many more…THESE are why people are getting pregnant at a younger age, they believe them.