FREE ESSAY ON TEENAGE PREGNANCY

TEENAGE PREGNANCY

Teenage Pregnancy
Many American families display forms of dysfunctionality. In one family the father may
be a workaholic and the mother an alcoholic. In another, the father maybe an alcoholic
and the mother an enabling codependent who never touches a drop. Regardless of the
specific affliction, children being raised within dysfunctional families are deprived of
what is needed to become happy, healthy, and well-adjusted adults. One of the most
pervasive effects of this deprivation is teenage pregnancy. 
In the case of a family where one parent, the father, is an alcoholic, the affected
parent
turns to alcohol as a remedy for some personal shortcoming. This parent has little to
offer a young girl seeking the approval and admiration of her father. More often than
not, the child is viewed as a nuisance by the parent, and the resultant irritation is
hard
to disguise. The child learns to either accept the irritation as the price for that
parents
affection, or rejects the cost and seeks the attention of the other parent. The other
parent, if healthy, is carrying the weight of the alcoholic partner's disease and the
tasks
required to make a house a home. At best she has her hands full; at worst she is as
mentally incapacitated as the father. Consequently, the young girl grows up
under-nurtured, under-valued and lonely. Similar to craving carrots when the body needs
vitamin A, the young woman's mind will seek the means to fulfill the void left by the
dysfunctional parent.!
When the deprived young woman reaches puberty, she finds a seemingly endless well of
attention, often mistaken as affection, in the young boys she has grown up with. 
Unbeknownst to her, the young men, dealing with the onslaught of pubescent hormones, are
trying to fulfill a completely different set of needs. And thus, the groundwork has
been set for a teenage pregnancy. 
The least complex enticement for an adolescent female to become pregnant is the fantasy
that the expected child will fulfill her need for love and affection. As seen on
television, a baby can be as cute as a stuffed animal and as loyal to its mother as a
Labrador retriever. What is not seen is that the baby is a life-long responsibility--one
that a teenage mother has not expected and is completely unprepared to accept. Also the
pregnancy itself can serve as a vehicle to receive the attention that was lacking in her
family of origin. I remember talking to a pregnant woman in line at the grocery store. 
When I asked how long she had been pregnant, she replied six months and went on to state
that her baby kicks almost continually. In disbelief as asked if I could feel the baby
kick; she answered yes, and after 30 seconds the baby did kick. Later, in the parking
lot,
it occurred to me that I had handled the stomach of a complete stranger solely because
she
was pregnan! t. Another motivating factor is the hope that with the new child she will
gain
some of the praise and respect that she was denied throughout her childhood. The act of
childbirth itself is a great accomplishment--an accomplishment which under normal
circumstances should be honored. Many couples try for years to produce children without
success. Some pregnancies require monumental efforts such artificial insemination or
invitro-fertilization. In the worst cases couples are forced to adopt. Consequently,
childbirth could be construed as an empowering experience by the adolescent, and that
can
be significant in the life of a child who has had little power. The childbirth may also
be
perceived by the adolescent as a passage into adulthood. In this, as in many of the
teenage mother's expectations, she is quite often disappointed. It is easy to see that
the outcome desired by a pregnant teenager take several forms, but the underlying
motivation is to receive the love and admiration the parents would not, or could not
provide. The most devastating aspect of a teenage pregnancy is that little thought is
given to the responsibilities required of the mother to support her new child. 
Consequently the likelihood is high that the next generation will not receive what it
needs
to become happy and healthy individuals.