Birth rate dropping? Teen parents to the rescue!
April 21st 2008 00:51
In my attempt to be a 'serious' writer, i.e. there was nothing else on TV at the time, I watched me an episode of 60 Minutes last night.
The fist story, click to view, was about teen pregnancy. It talked about how, what was coming next and how were the parents-to-be fitting this into their young lives.
In all the stories featured (three) the couples were still together and those that were still of school age 4/6 were indeed still at school. They all stated to be in love with each other and that they did not want to live off welfare- they wanted to set a good example for their little bundles. When asked why they had not used protection, 2 couples had a lax attitude towards it, with one saying 'it was going to happen anyway' while another couple attributed their pregnancy to a burst condom.
It's called going Dutch people- both of you use protection.
Okay so this story prompted me to do some research in regards to teen pregnancy and I’ve found the following statistics, opinions and links.
Australia has the 6th highest rate of teen pregnancy in the developed world. (Info from 2003) Link This is credited to 45% of sexually active teens not using any contraption and about half of them falling pregnant with 6 months of beginning a sexual relation. Although the couples in the 60 Minutes feature were still together and planning to stay that way, it is more common for teen mothers to b single, smokers, and for young parents to be from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Furthermore, all of this is especially true for Aboriginal persons.
Information I stumbled on that's from 4 April, 2008 has some different facts and figures abut also some similar ones. This factsheet says that teen pregnancy in Australia has been dropping over the past 3 decades and that our teen pregnancy rates a lower than those of the UK, US, and New Zealand. Teens that are putting their children up for adoption are also decreasing and this is attributed to changing social views and accommodation such as the schools the couples mentioned above attend that are specially designed to cope with school aged parents. Even this article however, sates that teen pregnancies are charecterised by the fathers' absence, socioeconomic disadvantages, domestic violence and being of indigenous heritage.
So it seems that teen pregnancy is well and truly happening. We as a society are coming to accept it more and working to integrate the whole thing into everyday life complete with support and services. Still, teen pregnancy remains a product mainly of unfavorable conditions that need to be addressed. But we're working on it.
The fist story, click to view, was about teen pregnancy. It talked about how, what was coming next and how were the parents-to-be fitting this into their young lives.
In all the stories featured (three) the couples were still together and those that were still of school age 4/6 were indeed still at school. They all stated to be in love with each other and that they did not want to live off welfare- they wanted to set a good example for their little bundles. When asked why they had not used protection, 2 couples had a lax attitude towards it, with one saying 'it was going to happen anyway' while another couple attributed their pregnancy to a burst condom.
It's called going Dutch people- both of you use protection.
Okay so this story prompted me to do some research in regards to teen pregnancy and I’ve found the following statistics, opinions and links.
Australia has the 6th highest rate of teen pregnancy in the developed world. (Info from 2003) Link This is credited to 45% of sexually active teens not using any contraption and about half of them falling pregnant with 6 months of beginning a sexual relation. Although the couples in the 60 Minutes feature were still together and planning to stay that way, it is more common for teen mothers to b single, smokers, and for young parents to be from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Furthermore, all of this is especially true for Aboriginal persons.
Information I stumbled on that's from 4 April, 2008 has some different facts and figures abut also some similar ones. This factsheet says that teen pregnancy in Australia has been dropping over the past 3 decades and that our teen pregnancy rates a lower than those of the UK, US, and New Zealand. Teens that are putting their children up for adoption are also decreasing and this is attributed to changing social views and accommodation such as the schools the couples mentioned above attend that are specially designed to cope with school aged parents. Even this article however, sates that teen pregnancies are charecterised by the fathers' absence, socioeconomic disadvantages, domestic violence and being of indigenous heritage.
So it seems that teen pregnancy is well and truly happening. We as a society are coming to accept it more and working to integrate the whole thing into everyday life complete with support and services. Still, teen pregnancy remains a product mainly of unfavorable conditions that need to be addressed. But we're working on it.
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Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
Raven
Comment by Wynona Lavota
Generation Y Life
But who knows, maybe when I'm a older I'll think the same things about the next generations.
Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
Raven
Comment by Wynona Lavota
Generation Y Life