Teen Pregnancy Statistics Continue To Rise
Despite sex education in schools and all the ads for
birth control pills and condoms, teenage pregnancies continue
to be a problem. In fact, teen pregnancy statistics are rising
more than they ever have before. Is there a way to stop these
teen pregnancy statistics from rising? Can we reverse our
societal trend of babies having babies? We can but first we’re
going to have to realize that teens are under a lot of
pressure. Suddenly their bodies are changing, their hormones
are raging and cliques and image become so very important. Sex,
too, is important. It’s likely that every teen knows which one
of his classmates have had sex and which ones haven’t. Some of
these may be made up stories but sex is very much a discussion
topic among many teens. Without education, however, these teens
will continue to experiment with sex and the teen pregnancy
statistics will continue to escalate out of control.
Peer Pressure
Many parents are afraid to talk to their teens about sex and
birth control and about the rising trend in teen pregnancy
statistics. They figure if they hold off on the talk as long as
possible, there’s a chance the teen won’t even think about sex.
You should know, however, that teens think about sex…a lot.
With or without the talk, your teen is going to be exposed to
sex via the TV, movies, magazines, books, and even their peers.
In fact, the teen pregnancy statistics may be affected largely
by peer pressure. If you’re not having sex in some teen social
circles, you’re seen as weird or out of the ordinary.
Therefore, teens have sex to appease their peers and to cross
some sort of imaginary threshold that puts them into the ‘not a
virgin anymore’ category. Unfortunately birth control is rarely
a part of this teenage initiation practice.
Temptation
When two people, teenage or adult, are engaged in activities
that lead up to sex, the desire and temptation become very
great. If there is no birth control available, it can be very
tempting to just go ahead without it. There’s something about
sex on the brain that clouds rational and logical thinking.
However, sometimes birth control is available and the people
still have sex without it either because they think it feels
better or they don’t want to kill the moment by preparing said
birth control method.
Education
By examining the rise in teenage pregnancy statistics, and
knowing that they are constantly exposed to peer pressure and
temptation, having birth control available to them may not be
enough to curb the rise in teen pregnancy. Education is the
only way. As a society, we need to teach our teens that
pregnancy is a very permanent thing. A baby is a huge
commitment and not one to be taken lightly. By educating our
teens and teaching them to make smart and wise decisions,
hopefully we can curb this trend of rising teen pregnancy
statistics.
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