AWARENESS OF TEENAGERS ON THE CAUSES AND EFFECT OF TEENAGE

PREGNANCY

INTRODUCTION

Teenage pregnancy is not like any other issue in the whole world although it seems to be

a common concern. It does not seem to bother people that much not until they are personally

affected by the issue or until they finally realized that it had been increasing in number of

affected people. It slowly reached an abnormal stage to the point it affected too many lives and

too many aspects of living. One of the reasons of teenage pregnancy is broken family. The child

may either live with his father or with her mother. Likewise a reason also why parents can’t do

their obligation to their child. Until their child found his/her friends who can influence him to do

the things that he/she never did before like sexual intercourse that can lead to pregnancy

because he/she lacks of information about sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Early pregnancy can also trap girls in an escapable cycle of poverty, stigmatized by

society for being teenage mothers or forced into early marriage. It also creates a greater risk in

terms of maternal complications that affect the mother and the child they bear resulting in low

survival rates.

The country is experiencing a rapid growth in population that contributes to different

problems. In the field of education, female students may become pregnant even before they

graduate. It is just proper that we are aware of the situations and circumstances of students who

got pregnant if they are still willing to pursue their education because they are also a vital part of

nation building. If we will empower these students to continue pursuing their dreams, then we

are creating hopes to students who are in the said situation.

 The efforts to combat teenage pregnancy should come from all the sectors of society. It

requires a joint effort of government, private sectors, civil society organizations, communities,

parents, caregivers and the entire citizenry, including youth themselves.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In a study conducted by the National Demographic and Health Survey in 2013, one out of

every young Filipino women age 15 to 19 is already a mother or pregnant with a first child.

Therefore, the government in partnership with the different nongovernment agencies should

exert efforts in resolving this issue. Teenage Pregnancies are often associated with social

development issues such as lack of sufficient education and poverty. This often results to single

parenthood which catalyzes conditions that renders the mothers to become irresponsible.

A study published by the Philippine Statistic Authority on August 28,2014 entitled “One ten

young Filipino Women age 15-29 is already a mother or pregnant with the first child’’. The Age

bracket is showing the age where a student is about to enter college and/or currently enrolled in

college level.

The “Lack of Parental Guidance Contributes to Teen Pregnancy”, states that most people

evade their children from talking about sex. In some case they provide false information

regarding sex and discourage their children to participate in any informative discussion about

sex. Also teenage mothers are not well educated about sex before getting pregnant and thus

this leads to lack of communication between the parents and their children (Hoffman 2004)

According to the research conducted by Berrington (2013) emphasized that: policies aimed

at reducing inequalities in adult health need to take a life-long perspective and to tackle social

disadvantages across the life course. Teenage motherhood is an important independent

pathway through which poor socio-economic conditions in childhood translate into higher rates
of both mental and overall ill health adulthood. The poorer mental health of teenage mothers

has implications for the subsequent generation and hence contributes to the intergenerational

transmission of disadvantage.

In the Philippines, NSO (2013) showed in their data that 13-14 percent of all registered

marriage is among teenagers below 20 years old while data from the National Youth

Commission showed that the rate of teen pregnancy in the country is among the highest in the

ASEAN region and the only country where the rate is increasing. The global issue of teen

pregnancy is the reason why the annual celebration of World Population Day- July 11- lead by

United Nations Population Fund, focuses on addressing teen pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

This study is aims to Increase the awareness and knowledge of the teenager to the risk of

the being pregnant at a young age, for them to absorb and reflect the effects and problems

attached in this situation, and also prevent them from indulging early pregnancy.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant to the following:

a. Teenagers/ Students – they are the ones involved in this case. They could be helped

through the informative content of this study. They could realize the negative effects of

teenage pregnancy and how it could change their whole life.

b. Society - it could lessen the percentage of single parenthood among the community. It

could orient family members on how teenage pregnancy can affect the family most

especially the teens.

c. Local Government – they could be able to implement and facilitate projects concerning

the rate of teenage pregnancy issue. They could be able to understand the deeper

cause of this inflating rate of early pregnancy.

d. Community Members – they could build a strong alliance against teenage pregnancy

and they could be a more productive part of the community in terms of cooperating in the

alliance.

e. Parents – they could expect a better future and a progressive and a more valuable and

worthy support to their sons and daughters.

f. Non-Government Organization – they could more stabilize their goals on this sector and

comply an efficient purpose on execution of ideas from which this study focuses. They

could be more sufficient in terms of project planning and data analysis of social factors of

teenage pregnancy.

g. Others – they would get a broader knowledge on how the teenage pregnancy work in

the society.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

a. What can teens do to spread awareness?

b. Why are there so many unplanned pregnancies among teens in this country?

c. How much is sex part of a young person’s life these days?

d. What’s the consequence of having so many teen pregnancies in this country?

e. What are some of the ways that teens deal with newfound parenthood?