Teenage Pregnancy and Stigma
Teenage pregnancy is a situation where females of ages ranging from 13 years to 19 years become pregnant. Sometimes preteens can also become pregnant as well. Adolescent pregnancy in our modern societies is facing negative stereotypes, which continue to dominate the understanding of teenage pregnancy. Several research works have linked teenage mothering to irresponsibility, promiscuity, and welfare dependency. The public concern over adolescent sexual health has generated debates for the past three decades. Such discussions have triggered academic, and legal inquiries from across the globe. Sexual health presents the epitome issue when discussing teenage pregnancy. Therefore, the problem cannot be overlooked in terms of its magnitude in the society. Despite the creation of awareness on sex education and guidance, there is still an existing wide prevalence of teen pregnancy. Many teenagers become pregnant while attending schools, and a significant number have stopped their studies for the same reasons. When the child is yet to be born, they forfeit their education at the expense of nursing the pregnancy. Pregnancy among teens has caused unprecedented levels of stigmatization among teens, and some have developed mental problems while in college.
Most colleges in the United States recorded a high number of teenagers seeking mental health treatment. Even as such colleges struggle to factor in the mental health treatments, and attaching the affected teens to the necessary therapy outside the college, there are those students who have developed a mental illness due to teenage pregnancy. Such mental illness is attributed to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Bermea et al, 2018). College students with mental health disorders as a result of teenage pregnancy is on the rise. We all understand that teenage pregnancy in almost all cases is unwanted pregnancies, which coincide with the learning periods in colleges. A massive survey conducted in the State of Mississippi found out that the teenage pregnancy rate was 76 percent (Kensinger & Minnick, 2018). With a 38 percent abortion rates among the teens in college. In a similar survey, 56 percent of the pregnant college students were found to be undergoing mental problems (Kensinger & Minnick, 2018). Twenty-four percent were mentally ill and placed under psychiatric treatment in various colleges.
Stigma surrounding teenage pregnancy is complex due to the gender norms of motherhood. College students with mental health disorders due to adolescent pregnancy face a lot of stigmatization (Bermea et al, 2018). Social stigma is the main type affecting pregnant college students. As mentioned before, most teenage pregnancies in America are always unintended. Vital statistics released from a retrospective survey also confirm this fact. The leading stigma in college teenage pregnancy, which eventually leads to mental problems is the stigma of becoming single mothers, and the fear of isolation. Isolation, in this case, may extend to rejection by the perpetrators of the pregnancies (Kensinger & Minnick, 2018). The fathers to most babies born by the teen mothers are never known or recognized. Most teen pregnancies are accompanied by the problem of rejection and self-denial from partners to the teens (Bermea et al, 2018). For this same reason, almost 40 percent of pregnant teens in colleges contemplate abortion, thus triggering another stigma about human safety during an abortion.
Most teenage pregnancies are not adorable, and teenage mothers usually struggle to identify with their college peers. Also during the adolescent pregnancy, the affected teenagers in college usually restructure their study schedule, and this snatches them friends and study counterparts who can no longer fit in their prenatal, and study programs. As mentioned before, most teenage pregnancies are as a result of irresponsibility, welfare dependency, and promiscuity. As a result, such teenagers are always affected by mental problems since they are in contestant stress of being considered the most irresponsible among their peers (Brown & Nichols, 2013). They feel unfit to be in society because some of the younger teens may also be looking up to them as role models. After childbirth, there are mental health changes which occur alongside the physical changes. According to research published in the Journal of Pediatrics, the college pregnant teens experience postpartum depression at a higher rate compared to older women (Kensinger & Minnick, 2018). Significant levels of stress lead to increased amounts of mental health concerns. Both pregnant teens and teen mother are more likely to experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) characterized by suicidal ideation than their peers who are neither pregnant nor mothers.
Pregnant college students with mental health disorders or who are at the risk of developing mental illness have developed mechanisms to take care of their mental health during the stage. Interestingly, 54 percent of pregnant college students who are under psychiatric treatment recognized the interrelationship between psychological stress and poor fetal development (Brown & Nichols, 2013). As a result, they decided to talk out their situation to their parents and peers to avoid more stress accumulation. These statistics are interesting because they imply that society is taking a different twist in managing teenage pregnancies (Kensinger & Minnick, 2018). Formerly, induced abortions dominated among teens in colleges. However, such methods also proved dangerous in some situations, and could not provide the surest methods of ending such unplanned pregnancies. This means that teenagers can develop amicable ways of managing regencies other than inducing abortions (Brown & Nichols, 2013). Abortions can kill and can present an abortion stigma. Therefore, there are eminent calls for effective methods of managing teenage pregnancies and managing stigma the teenagers face during pregnancy as explained in the course.
In conclusion, teenage pregnancy, and the stigma the teenagers face in college requires comprehensive approaches in management. Mental treatment and stress management are crucial to ensuring the pregnant college population stays alive and safe. Loss of life during pregnancy may result in a double loss when both the mother and the infant passes. The society must treat such teens with a lot of care to avoid stigma resulting from the society itself, abortion, and pregnancy. The various statistics presented by the various research agencies in the US reveal that teenage pregnancy is still a menace in society despite the efforts to teach about sexual health and guidance. Some of the researchers also call for parental roles in monitoring their children. They further questioned the role of media in shaping behaviors among teens. Nevertheless, pregnant teens are interestingly learning to keep up with the situation despite a lot of challenges and stigma. They have learned to speak it out to their peers and parents, and have been given the correct mental treatment in cases where mental health is at stake.
References
Bermea, A. M., Toews, M. L., & Wood, L. G. (2018). “Students Getting Pregnant Are Not Gonna Go Nowhere”: Manifestations of Stigma in Adolescent Mothers’ Educational Environment. Youth & Society, 50(3), 423-436.
Brown, V., & Nichols, T. R. (2013). Pregnant and parenting students on campus: Policy and program implications for a growing population. Educational Policy, 27(3), 499-530.
Kensinger, C., & Minnick, D. J. (2018). The Invisible Village: An Exploration of Undergraduate Student Mothers’ Experiences. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 39(1), 132-144.