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Summary
District of Columbia is ranked amongst the regions with a high number of teenage pregnancies. Girls between the age of 14 and 19 are highly likely to get pregnant and later drop out of school. Although poverty is the major contributor to these pregnancies, other factors, including broken families, lack of sex education, and traditional gender identity roles amongst girls, equally lead to early pregnancies. The hypothetical target group for this educational promotion is the general community of the region because, through various practices, all people contribute to teenage pregnancies. Promoting health amongst these people ensures improved health and lifestyle in general. Thus, strategies such as sexual education and financial support amongst learning teenagers would contribute to reduced pregnancies within the group.
Teenage Pregnancy Analysis
Teenage pregnancies in the school-going age group are a major health concern in the District of Columbia. According to a study by DC Health Matters, 31.7% of 1000 females aged 14 to 19 became pregnant in 2018 in this region ( Teen pregnancy rate, 2018). The girls are mostly raped by close relatives or voluntarily engage in sexual acts with their age-mate boys. Latin and Asia Americans contribute to the highest population of the disastrous health issue. The affected girls are usually either in school or in early marriages. When teenage girls in school become pregnant, their education journey ends because they to drop out of school.
Several factors, including economic and social, significantly contribute to teenage pregnancies in this community. Economic factors and particularly poverty among teen girls parents, lead them to early pregnancies. According to research, most Latin American girls who become pregnant before 19 are from poor families (Maravilla et al., 2018). In search of a better lifestyle from rich men, teenagers engage in sex and end up with unplanned pregnancies. A significant number of teenage females also get married early to evade poverty. Teenage mothers mostly live in poverty and are likely to pass this lifestyle to the next generation.
Social factors, including broken families, gender roles, lack of sex education, and heightened sex-based media content, lead to teenage pregnancies. Study shows that girls in foster care are highly prone to teenage pregnancies. Rape and sexual coercion from close relatives are also frequent in broken families. In Latin American families, women are acknowledged for taking the role of motherhood, and so the need to fit in makes young girls get married ( Teen pregnancy rate, 2018). Talking about sexual activities is considered taboo in this community, especially among Latin Americans. The lack of sexual knowledge among our girls makes them easy targets for sexual activities. Todays social media platforms also have highly sex-suggestive content, which, together with peer pressure, entice women to engage in sex.
The Need for Health Promotion
Promoting health in the Columbian District is critical to minimizing the number of teenage pregnancies. The hypothetical group targeted for this health promotion is parents of teenagers and potential teenagers, young boys and girls of age 13 to 19, and school representatives. While teenage girls are the victims of sexual activities, young boys also engage in the same activities. Parents of these children are involved in the education, so they will know how to deal with teenagers. It is also the responsibility of these parents to uphold the right beliefs to avoid misguiding young people.
Young-age pregnancies contribute to slowed economic growth due to the continuation of poverty. When young mothers get pregnant and deliver before 19, they discontinue education and have few chances of finding jobs (Smith et al., 2018). The mother is exposed to poverty, and the child is also likely to live in poverty in the future. Thus, it is important to educate this community about the need to reduce teenage pregnancies.
Teenage pregnancies compromise the health of mothers and their infants or unborn babies. Learning the dangers of early pregnancies could protect the health of young girls. When a woman below 16 becomes pregnant, there are high chance that she will experience pregnancy complications (Smith et al., 2018). Pregnancy complications such as miscarriages expose young children to other health conditions. Unemployed teenage mothers are also unable to provide for their infants. At times, the babies die due to malnutrition or lack of access to health services.
Lastly, the promotion of health in this community will help to eradicate traditional beliefs and practices that contribute to early pregnancies. Most of us come from families that practice traditional beliefs that prevent young people from learning the dangers of engaging in sexual intercourse. In most communities, it is taboo to talk about sex or the activities associated with this topic (Smith et al., 2018). Thus, by creating rooms in which we can talk about sex matters and the consequences of the activities, we ensure that our girls make informed decisions about the same. The idea that being a woman means becoming a mother also needs to change through gender roles, education, and women empowerment.
Health Goals
Several strategic goals can help to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies in our community. One of the goals is to ensure that young girls do not drop out of school. Supporting teenage education through funding ensures that girls keep learning with minimal interruptions (Kantor et al., 2020). Most girls who become pregnant before 19 drop out of school due to a lack of school fees. By influencing the government programs that fund teenage education, there is a guarantee that young women will stay in school.
Another preventative goal is to create sex awareness through educational programs. The educational programs will teach young women the qualification, needs, and consequences of sexual activities. Young girls and boys are to be taught various dangers of engaging in sex, including early pregnancies, diseases, and potentially dropping out of school. The girls are also taught different methods of contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies ( Family planning, 2022). The program will also cover the examination of social media content based on young minds. Young women and men will be taught the need to minimize their exposure to social media and avoid experimenting the sex-based content. They need to understand that social media should be used for positive educational and interaction purposes only at their level of life.
The last strategic goal is to eliminate the traditional gender-role practice education amongst our children. The program will focus on eliminating the idea that a woman qualifies in their gender role by becoming a mother. To correct this belief, parents will need to start empowering their girls through modern practices. Modern practices require girls to be taught, acquire jobs, and later get married to create a family (Smith et al., 2018). Delivering this education to our girls will mean that they will start having higher self-esteem and will want to stay in school. The program will also teach these young women to engage in empowerment programs, including talent search, that help by molding them into better people.
References
Family planning. (2022). Healthy People 2030.
Kantor, L., Levitz, N., & Holstrom, A. (2020). Support for sex education and teenage pregnancy prevention programs in the USA: Results from a national survey of likely voters. Sex Education, 20(3), 239-251.
Maravilla, J. C., Betts, K. S., e Cruz, C. C., & Alati, R. (2018). Factors influencing repeated teenage pregnancy: A review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 217(5), 527-545.
Smith, C., Strohschein, L., & Crosnoe, R. (2018). Family histories and teen pregnancy in the United States and Canada. Journal of Marriage and Family, 80(5), 1244-1258.
Teen pregnancy rate. (2018). DC Health Matters.
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