Teenage Motherhood

No other event in the life of a woman can be considered so profound and life changing as motherhood is. Many people describe this journey in life as an emotional rollercoaster. There can be many things that a woman must change in her life after the birth of a child. It should come as no surprise that when the mother is single as well as being in her teen years, saying this experience will be life changing is just the tip of the iceberg. The struggles a single teenage mother may face are many in comparison to their older, married counterparts. Having been a teenage mother I can say that the hurdles were high but the rewards are unbelievable. When someone has a child, the love can be so deep that it is impossible to put into words. The love that is received from a child is truly a precious gift that makes all of the hard work put into raising the little one worth it.

Although there are single teens that are competent in raising a child, there are far too many that are not. It is encouraging to see that teenage birth rates are on the decline. In 2002 teenage pregnancies were recorded at 760,000. Only two years later that number decreased by a staggering thirty-six percent. Although teenage birth rates have decreased, the United States still has the highest teen pregnancy rates in the industrialized world. Specifically, the U.S. is three to six times higher than Europe, Denmark, France and Sweden (teenpregnancy.org). The rates for minorities giving birth as a teen have been exceptionally high. For every 1,000 African Americans there are 85.4 births Teenage Motherhood 3 for girls aged fifteen to nineteen. The rate for Hispanic girls in the same age group is at 93.6 births per 1,000 teens. The lowest numbers are in the group of Caucasian girls at a rate of 45.4 births per 1,000 girls also in the same age group. Although the teen birth rates are down, advocates still continue their effort to reduce this number due to the negative consequences for both the mother and the child. Renzetti, C.M. & Curran, D. (2003) pg 175.

The United States government takes a particular interest in these figures because of the amount of resources that are needed from them. The current amount has been published by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and was written by Saul Hoffman, Ph.D. The results of the study represent costs that are being used from the local, state and federal government with figures just over nine billion dollars each year! The spending for each child on a yearly basis is $1,430 dollars (teenpregnancy.org). This money is needed for health care for the child and quite often for the mother also. Another chunk of this money does need to pay for foster care because unfortunately teen mothers do have a higher rate of of children in the system. Every year $2.9 billion dollars is lost in revenue. The money is lost because teen moms pay lower taxes and generally earn less money compared to older, married mothers. This of coarse may vary depending on the age of the mother. For example, a fifteen year old may have a much harder time trying to get a job that pays well enough to adequately raise a child. A nineteen year old however may not have as much trouble trying to do this. Teenage Motherhood 4 However, one should note that not all teen mothers need to rely on assistance from the government to take care of their child. Usually the older teens that are over the age of seventeen have an easier time financially.