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Title
Teenage Pregnancy: Effects on Mental Health
Introduction
To begin with the essay the chosen topic that will be addressed throughout is “Teenage Pregnancy: Effects on Mental Health”. For developing a better understanding the issue the UK will be the developed country preferred. The reason behind addressing this topic is the result of growing concern over the continuously increasing rate of teenage pregnancies in the UK when compared to other countries in the Europe. However, there still exist wider gap in the availability of adequate services for young mothers, in particular to the ones related to their mental health. It has been observed that teenage mothers are at an increased risk of postpartum depression than average, related with the feelings of isolation and reduced self-esteem. This when not controlled is likely in having repercussions in the longer term for the mother and her child, both. Moreover, zero support with difficulties related to the mental health of the teenage mothers can be affecting negatively on the parenting practices apart from the impacting the capability of the mother in bonding with her baby (Mann, et al., 2020).
The effects of teenage pregnancy on mental health is a public issue owing to the various mental health conditions faced by the teen mothers relating to birth of a child and being a new mother. Some of the examples of these conditions comprises of baby blues where in the symptoms such as swings, anxiety, sadness, overwhelm, difficulty concentrating, trouble eating, and difficulty to sleep are experienced for 1-2 weeks after childbirth; depression risks are higher when a mother has a baby before 37 weeks or experiences complexities; postpartum depression symptoms like difficulty to bond with her baby, overwhelming fatigue, feeling worthless, anxiety, panic attacks, thought of self- harm or the baby, difficulty to enjoy activities liked once, which teenage mothers are likely in experiencing two times more compared to their adult counterparts (Nall, 2016).
One can see teenage pregnancies affects on mental health all over the world. This has fast emerged as a global problem that occurs in high, middle, and low-income countries. However, the possibilities of teenage pregnancies to take place across the world are in marginalized communities, with poverty and lack of education and employment opportunities drive them commonly. There are various factors contributing significantly to teenage pregnancies and births. Still today there are societies in poor countries like Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Myanmar etc. girls in their teenage and even adolescents are forced or sold in marriage and early child bearing. It has been observed that at least 39% of girls are married before the age of 18 while 12% before 15 years. Becoming pregnant is a choice of the girls in many places as a result of very little prospects of education and employment (Lucas, et al., 2019). Motherhood, often in such societies is valued and marriage or union and childbearing might be the best of the limited options available. Also, teenagers wanting to avert pregnancies might be unable in doing so because zero knowledge and misapprehensions from where obtaining contraceptive methods and using them. A minimum of 10 million of unplanned teenage pregnancies are occurring every year in the developing countries. For dealing with this issue Teenage Pregnancy Strategy for England was run by the UK Government. Functioned 1999-2010, this had contributed to a reduction of 66% in the conception rate under-18 (1998-2019), to the lowest level for over 40 years. Policies like theTeenage Pregnancy Prevention Framework and the Framework for Supporting Teenage Mothers and Young Fathers have been designed for helping the local areas in assessing their local programs for seeing what is working well; identifying and addressing the gaps in mental health services, if any; strengthening prevention and supporting pathways for young people, young parents and their children besides maximizing all the assets in the local area (Cense and Ruard Ganzevoort, 2019). The main determinants of ill health are in relation to this public health issue? Are they all applicable? Do they interact? How has the chosen public health issue been addressed in the UK will be addressed in the essay.
Discussion point 1
The main determinants of ill health are in relation to this public health issue such as social, economic, technological are applicable, and they interact. Biological and environmental are not applicable neither do they are interacting with this public health issue.
Social
Teenage pregnancy is one of the evils of the modern society, which rather is situation of alarm. It has become evident from various researches and online articles available that teenage pregnancy is widely perceived as a social stigma in most nations- developed, developing or poor. It can be impacting destructively a on the social life of a teen, by wreaking havoc as result from the negativism, the social isolation, and the monetary suffering in her life who is yet not mature or strong enough for facing the world further pushing towards the issues of mental health (Cook and Cameron, 2017). Moral beliefs, ethics, and human etiquettes give bases to the societies. The concept of a pregnant teen mother sadly, is still non-acceptable, no matter how progressive a society intends of being. Great difficulties are constantly experienced by the teenage mothers to get their life plans realized comparing to their classmates. Their premature, unscheduled childbearing brings along complexities such as marital instability, school disruption, economic problems, and difficulty in family size regulation and child-rearing According to World Health Organization’s official record, in developing regions roughly 21 million girls between the age of 15-19 years, and 2 million girls aged under 15 years become pregnant every year (WHO, 2021). The social impact of teenage pregnancies might be including stigma, rejection or violence by partners, parents and peers. This often pushes the teen mothers towards experiencing mental issues like suicidal ideation, guilt, loneliness, anxiety, depression and stress. Moreover, teenage pregnancy and childbirth are significantly impacting the educational outcomes of teen parents. Nearly only 50% of teen mothers by the age of 22 have received a high school diploma; a General Education Development has been earned by only 30% compared to 90% of women who are not teenage mothers. A two- or four-year college program is completed by about 10% only (Youth.Gov, 2021).
Economic
Often teenage pregnancy and bearing a child drives the teens in school dropouts, even though in few regions like that in the UK efforts are being carried out in allowing then in returning to schools post childbirth, this might well be jeopardizing their education and employment opportunities in the future. The affects of teenage pregnancy can be fundamentally seen on the teen moms’ life. Sans any risk, a child’s demand cannot be just passed over. Moreover, the economic conditions of the countries are also impacted with teenage pregnancies. It is evident from the 2020 UN report that economic losses of $7.7 billion a year is borne by a developing country like India as a result of teenage pregnancies. An economic loss of teenage pregnancies at 12% of the Gross Domestic Product has been estimated by health ministry earlier. The country has witnessed almost double 9.2% of teenage pregnancy in rural areas in comparison to 5% in the urban areas. Teenage pregnancies are not only making the teens vulnerable to a great degree, both physically and mentally but are also placing them and their babies at risk such as miscarriages, abortion and other adverse outcomes (Suri, 2020). In the U.S. teenage pregnancy costs around $11 billion per year to the taxpayers in the form of increased health, mental and foster care, increased incarceration rates amongst the children of teen parents, and lost tax revenue due to reduced educational achievement and earning amongst the teen moms (Youth.Gov, 2021). The UK continues in having one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Western Europe, with majority not being planned and around half ending in abortion. The relation amid teenage pregnancy and economic deprivation continues to be important, as does the relation amidst conception before 18 years low education levels. Both a cause and an outcome of teenage pregnancy is the attainment of lower educational level. Various researches shows that in spite of legal and policy measures for ensuring continuing education for young women during and after pregnancy in the UK, still many in reality are excluded from schools and other educational institutions for several reasons, which includes lack of adequate facilities in the educational institutions, unfair and vilifying attitudes, and lack of accessibility to childcare facilities (Nuffieldtrust, 2021).
Technological
A role that is very fundamental is played by technology in the lives of teens today, with majority of them are considered as digital natives having grown making use of communications, media, and digital technologies. It has been observed that continuous technological evolution has made it increasingly available and more reasonable to the teens. Internet connection is available to 80% of teens across 104 nations. In the African and Asian countries, the number of females online is comparatively more than the males. Technology is widely perceived as a remedy to all social problems or a cause for all evils worldwide due to its universality. Often teen moms and their children are viewed having been involved in the lower literacy cycle. But, having paralleled social changes in literacy and digital technology in the lives of people, there is a probability of the literacy experiences of the teen moms today and their children are different from the past. Technology based sociocultural literacy change is provided with social growth of print and multimedia texts, which can be easily accessed across a wide range of platforms. In addition, the accessibility and mobility of technological platforms has contributed in changing the availability and usability of print and other symbol systems. UN made Sustainable Development Solutions Network – a non-profit civil society organisation offers may e-learning platforms for raising awareness amongst and educating the adolescents and teens in preventing teenage pregnancies further boosting use of technology in poverty-stricken communities (Mejia, 2015).
It has been observed that there are several existing health programs and interventions reaching out to only a section of the population in need. Resulting to this, for getting delivered services to harder in reaching populations, tech-based interventions are been increasingly used by the practitioners. With the universality of mobile devices, mobile apps and text messaging can be utilized by the innovative service delivery methods in order to reaching few of these hard-to-reach groups—in particular the teens and young adults in an effective way. Healthy Teen Network designed a web-based mobile app ‘Pulse’ in one such involvement providing on-demand accessibility to extensive, medically precise sexual and reproductive and mental health information. It has been designed on completely tech-based intervention for reaching out to the females in their teens who inspite of having the most rates of unplanned pregnancy continue to be underserved by various pregnancy prevention programs (Whitfield, Cook and Manlove, 2019).
Discussion point 2
One can associate teenage pregnancy with many health risks, both to mothers and infants, which also include issues related to mental health of the teen mothers. It has been observed that there is an increased possibility of teenage pregnancies in being unintended in comparison to the adult pregnancies. Such pregnancies are at immense risk of health problems, including maternal anaemia, pre-eclampsia, infant mortality, pre-term labour, and longer and more difficult labour. Across the globe, complexities that rise from pregnancy and childbirth have also led to deaths amongst the teens who are at in increased risks of poor mental health, suicide, and substance using problems than their peers (Baxter, et al., 2021). Teenage pregnancy is more prevalent in poor families, households with single-parent, areas of greater impoverishment, and girls born to teenage parents. Obstacles to further education, employment or training are more likely to be faced by the teen moms, and might be requiring increased support from the society for their health and that of the child besides positive family relations, earning and housing support. It has been proposed by the promoters of teenage pregnancy prevention as a priority for public health that lower rates can bring improvement in the mental health of the teens and their children apart from getting health and societal biasness reduced.
Even though there has been a reduction in the teenage pregnancy rates in the many countries of the Europe, particularly in the UK, countries with lower incomes are continuing in showing increased rates. In recent decades, the country has witnessed relatively higher rates of teenage pregnancy, which has promoted the government into implementing various types of policies, with varied proof of effectiveness. In the UK, teenage pregnancies affects on mental health is addressed through:
Health protection
For reducing the rates of teenage pregnancies in the UK, various prevention programs have been designed, which are aiming for getting the contraception use improved besides modifying the higher-risk behaviours in relation with this public health issue. Teen mothers are is a group that is unique as a result of them facing various major adjustments in getting their identities besides them being specifically vulnerable to experience postpartum depression, stress and feelings of isolation. Many of the difficulties that the teen moms experience can be prevented with the help of far-reaching support services by offering them with a wide range of support, information, activities and opportunities. Mental health foundations like Young Mums Together have been established for offering the teen mothers with a platform for exploring explore ideas, concerns and ambitions in the process of coping with the several adjustments in their lives. It helps in supporting the young mothers’ with employment, benefits, housing, mental health needs, parenting, social engagement, and relationship difficulties (Amod, et al., 2019). Youth social development programs have also been designed for targeting the social and psychological skills requisite for averting higher-risk behaviours like early sexual activity. These programs have been operating on the ground that teens delaying sexual activity are having higher educational ambitions, peers with same norms, and parent-child relations marked by supervision, support, and open communication. In addition, comprehensive sex-education programs presenting abstinence have been launched since they are perceived as a method that is most effective to get teenage pregnancy prevented besides discussing contraception as the adequate strategy for sexually active teens.
Health improvement
The UK government has focused on using seminars for sensitizing teens with the intent to improve their lives and skills for surviving the society. Parents are encouraged in interacting openly about the effect of teenage pregnancies, and pre-marital sex and their impacts of mental health to their growing children. In addition to this, for the reduction of teenage pregnancies at individual level efforts have been made in capacity building. School alumni and trained school student leaders are used as motivators and peer counsellors, respectively, for empowering girls and boys into averting early sex and giving priority to their education. Schools are encouraged in recalling their older students besides training all students’ leaders to become good role models for providing counselling and empowerment to the teens in saying ‘No’ to early sex firmly.
The involvement of parental and community is given encouragement for openly advising their teenage children and not shying away, sensitization of parents to support, particular their girls, getting both parents and learners counselled about the impact of teenage pregnancies and the responsibilities coming along with it, community care and liability for keeping girls in school, and use the law for getting the offenders prosecuted legally for reducing the rates of teenage pregnancies at the societal level. Media has also been utilized in the form of plays and talk shows for sensitizing against teenage pregnancies, shutting down local media venues showing pornography and other sexually oriented content to children and students, use the law for punishing the rapists, and asking the office of the President for providing warnings against teenage pregnancies.
Health care services
It has been observed that for addressing this affects of teenage pregnancy on the mental health of the teen moms, NHS trusts has been continually running a wide range of public health activity initiatives via its Walsall Healthcare. The service is offering both supports for teen moms aging 13-19 up to age 21 for those with the needs of special education or any disability besides prevention to teenage pregnancy for young people below the age of 18. The supporting services includes getting provided with holistic support to the teen mothers, parents-to-be and their children, having focus on their physical and mental health, and well-being by establishing links with partners that deliver the Health in Pregnancy service/healthy child programme (NHS, 2019). Moreover, accessibility of all services to the teens, meeting the principles of You Are Welcome, inclusive of young fathers; with robust referral links to related agencies are also ensured. At the same time, lessening the stigma teen mothers is facing, in turn stopping social exclusion is also focused on. The prevention services include asserting on safer-sex messages, which includes getting media campaigns and training delivered. Personal, Social and Health Education, which focuses on best practices and is based on evidences. Currently, it is aiming to be adopted as a universally whole school approach, with Sex and Relationships Education programme underpinning it, getting delivered by partnering with school nursing, sexual health and partner agencies across primary and secondary school set ups. Furthermore, custom-fit youth development programmes are also provided for teens between the ages of 13-16 years who are vulnerable. Another service that is offered is supporting young people in accessing the services related to their sexual health apart from providing resources for promoting accessibility to such services.
Efforts have been made by the government to help the teens in choosing the best method of contraception suiting them besides focusing on enhancing their awareness with regards to effective use of contraceptives for reducing pregnancies that are not planned. The aim of the quality standards of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on contraception revolves around ensuring that people, in particular the teens are provided with advices and information in the context of contraception of all types. The guideline on contraceptive services for people under the age of 25 years comprises of suggestions for added customized support for meeting the particular needs and choices of socially disadvantaged people or the ones facing difficulties in using these services. In addition, one-to-one interventions with an aim to at lessen the rate of teenage pregnancies are covered by NICE guideline to prevent sexually transmitted infections and conceptions under 18 (BASHH, 2019).
Conclusion
From the above discussions it can be concluded that in this essay intends bringing into light Teenage Pregnancy and its effects on mental health in the UK. In order to develop detailed comprehension about how this public health issue has affected the mental health conditions of the teens, this topic has been addressed. The main findings from the discussion point 1 emphasise that social, economic, and technological are the main determinants of ill health in relation to this public health issue that are applicable and they interact. Biological and environmental factors do not apply to this public health issue, neither do they interact with the same. It has become apparent from several study materials that teenage pregnancy is one of the evils of the modern society, which rather is an alarming condition. Many researches and online articles suggest that teenage pregnancy is widely perceived as a social stigma in most nations- developed, developing or poor. It can be impacting destructively a on the social life of a teen, by wreaking havoc as result from the negativism, the social isolation, and the monetary suffering in her life who is yet not mature or strong enough for facing the world further pushing towards the issues of mental health. The concept of teenage pregnancy unfortunalerty is still non-acceptable, no matter how progressive a society intends of being. Greater difficulties are constantly experienced by the teenage mothers to get their life plans realized comparing to their classmates. Their premature, unscheduled childbearing brings along complexities such as marital instability, school disruption, economic problems, and difficulty in family size regulation and child-rearing According to the official record of WHO, in developing regions roughly 21 million girls between the age of 15-19 years, and 2 million girls aged under 15 years become pregnant every year.
Often teenage pregnancy and childbearing drives the teens in school dropouts, although in few regions like the UK efforts are being carried out in allowing then in returning to schools post childbirth, this might well be jeopardizing their education and employment opportunities in the future. The country continues to have one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Western Europe, with majority not being planned and around half ending in abortion. The relation amid teenage pregnancy and economic deprivation continues to be important, as does the relation amidst conception before 18 years low education levels. Both a cause and an outcome of teenage pregnancy is the attainment of lower educational level. Various researches shows that in spite of legal and policy measures for ensuring continuing education for young women during and after pregnancy in the UK, still many in reality are excluded from schools and other educational institutions for several reasons, which includes lack of adequate facilities in the educational institutions, unfair and vilifying attitudes, and lack of accessibility to childcare facilities.
Technology is widely perceived as a remedy to all social problems or a cause for all evils worldwide due to its universality. Often teen moms and their children are viewed having been involved in the lower literacy cycle. But, having paralleled social changes in literacy and digital technology in the lives of people, there is a probability of the literacy experiences of the teen moms today and their children are different from the past. Technology based sociocultural literacy change is provided with social growth of print and multimedia texts, which can be easily accessed across a wide range of platforms. In addition, the accessibility and mobility of technological platforms has contributed in changing the availability and usability of print and other symbol systems. UN made Sustainable Development Solutions Network – a non-profit civil society organisation offers may e-learning platforms for raising awareness amongst and educating the adolescents and teens in preventing teenage pregnancies further boosting use of technology in poverty-stricken communities.
It has been asserted by the main findings from the discussion point 2 that the UK this public health issue is addressed by designing various prevention programs, which are aiming for getting the contraception use improved besides modifying the higher-risk behaviours regarding teenage pregnancies. Mental health foundations like Young Mums Together have been established for offering the teen mothers with a platform for exploring explore ideas, concerns and ambitions in the process of coping with the several adjustments in their lives. It helps in supporting the young mothers’ with employment, benefits, housing, mental health needs, parenting, social engagement, and relationship difficulties. Seminars are used for sensitizing teens with the intent to improve their lives and skills for surviving the society. Parents are encouraged in interacting openly about the effect of teenage pregnancies, and pre-marital sex and their impacts of mental health to their growing children. The issue picked for the essay still a concern with research showing teenage pregnancy is related with poor outcomes for both the teens and their children. Teenage moms are lesser likely in completing their education, are more expected in bringing up their children all alone and in poverty besides having a high risks of problems related to their mental health compared to the older ones. A solution for this issue can be getting an approach developed based on community, using school sex education combined with parent, church, and community groups; increase teenage knowledge of contraception, and provide counseling, medical and psychological health, education, and nutrition of teens for reducing low the school dropout rates and mental health issues.
Personal reflection
While working with peers who belong to different ethnic and cultural contexts all through the module, improvement in my communication skills have been made in formal presentations and seminar group work. This is evident when clear, succinct, and simple language was used by me, averting making use of slang terms, euphemisms, and colloquial expressions.
