Teen Pregnancy in America

Whitney Nemelka, Nick Urban and Bailie Nelson

 Slide 1: Project title Slide 2: Table of contents

Table Of Contents

Slide 3: Executive Summary.

Slide 4: Project Description.

Slide 5: Who is effected and history on project. Slide 6: How we applied our solution Slide 7: identifying our problem. Slide 8: Analyzing our problem. Slide 9: criteria for solution Slide 10: Brainstorming, solution, implication Slide 11: How we Implemented the solution Slide 12: Conclusion

~Executive Summary~

Is teen pregnancy a problem in America? Yes, teen pregnancy is a problem in American, there are over 700,000 teens between the ages of 17-19 that are pregnant each year. The teen pregnancy rate in America reached an all time high in 1990 with an estimated 116.9 pregnancies per thousand teens. The rate of teen pregnancy seemed to be declining from 1990 to 2006 but in December 2007 a report by the Centers for Disease Control showed a 3% increase from 2005 until 2006. This number has continued to rise until we reached over 700,000 teenage pregnancies per year, like we have already discussed. But what happens when a teenager gets pregnant? Who does it effect? Well the answer is that it effects almost everyone! The teenage Mother and the teenage Father are both effected in the same way, they now have a responsibility to care for another human. Caring for this baby means that they must figure out how they will do so financially as well as physically. Teenagers are still in school, and most do not have jobs that will support raising a child. In most cases the Father will drop out of school to try and find a job that will make enough money to support the new born baby. The Mother will also drop out because she needs to stay at home and raise the child. The dropping out of the two teenagers means that neither one of them has an education. Which in the future will make things harder for them. Another person that can be effected by this teen pregnancy is the individual parents of the teenage Father and Mother. Often times these parents step up and make sacrifices so that their children can stay in school. They make financial sacrifices as well as physical sacrifices. This can cause hardship on the family financially and it can cause hardship on the relationships in the family. The friends of the teenagers can also be effected by this pregnancy. They can lose a friend because the friend has to drop out of school or stay at home to take care of the baby. And the final, maybe even the most important person who is affected by this teen pregnancy is the baby itself. The baby could be raised by one parent, it could be raised by two, or it could be given up for adoption. The possibilities of what can occur to this child are endless.

Project Description
The objective of our group project is to raise awareness to the community and to the
government about teen pregnancy. We hope to raise awareness so that something can be done to try and stop teen pregnancy. We hope to do this by coming up with solutions to the problem at hand, we will come up with many different solutions that can be implemented in many different ways. This will allow the different communities and governments to apply the solution in a way that best fits them, and their social environment. It was important for us to come to a conclusion about this issue because if we did not come to a conclusion then we would not be able to brainstorm potential solutions for this problem. It was also important for us to think in a similar way, but not in the same way. Not thinking exactly the same allows us to see different points of view and to see how different solutions could work in different communities and governments.

Methods
Our Team worked together well and the ideas came easily to us because we
used reflective thinking techniques and healthy communication skills. We collaborated our ideas and were able to combine all of these ideas together to come up with the most positive and effective solution. The reflective thinking sequence ( Alder, Elmhorst,Lucas P.248) gave us the step by step processes we needed to follow this scenario through from start to finish in a detailed fashion. It helped us to use creative thinking mixed with logical conclusions.

Part One: Problem Question

We chose to use the problem question What was the best way for us to help with teen pregnancy and how we were going to get more kids educated on how it can change your life in so many ways?

Part Two: Analysis Of the problem.

Characteristics Positive characteristics: When it comes to teen pregnancy, it doesnt really have any positives, The only positives we could come up with is that they brought a new life into this world, and if the mother was going through a hard time, having a child could change her life for the better. But we didnt think that very many positives came out of teen pregnancy. Negative characteristcs: There are also negative characteristics, Some of the biggest ones we came up with were that, when you are a teen you have to change your whole life and it makes you have to grow up that much faster than all the other teens around you. One of the biggest problems that we saw In teen pregnancy is that the parents have to most likely drop out of school to take care of their child. They also have to have the worry about if they baby will ever have its mom and dad together, we were talking as a group and most the time with teen pregnancy they mother and father hardly ever stay together.

History
A century from now, people were really getting into detail on the question of why
the topic of teenage child pregnancy suddenly became so big and talked about in America during the last several decades of the twentieth century. The issue really was a huge problem during the 1950s and early 1960s, when rates of teen pregnancy among teens reached hits peaks, and rose to a level of public obsession just as rates of teenage pregnancy began to rise. In the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1995 people were saying that teen pregnancy was our most serious social problem. We as a group have talked about the past and how people were not educated on sex, and it was a hush hush topic. Teen pregnancy still happened. So, if we were to educate the youth about the possibilities about sex, we could possibly lower the teen pregnancy rate.

Part Three: Criteria

Criteria is one of the most important things to look at when you are trying to solve
a problem. Why are we trying to solve this problem? What are the requirements we are looking at when we are trying to come up with a solution to this problem? We have a main goal we are trying to accomplish, how to prevent teen pregnancy.

1.Apply the principles of effective communication we used in class
2. Either teach abstinence or use of contraceptives in high school 3. Being willing to take advice for others 4.Have an open mind 5.Strengthening relationships among peers who will hold you to a higher standard

Brainstormed Possible Solutions

Brainstorming was also a huge part of helping us with our solutions. We have not come up with every possible solution to this problem, but we tried to think outside of the box.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Contraceptives Counseling Prevention classes taught in high school about it Ask parents for help Dont put yourself in bad situations

Awareness classes taught in school

How we Implemented the solution

As stated above, the solution we came up with is going to be much more
involved than simply recommitting to one another to help with teen pregnancy. Things are much easier said than done and this situation is a tricky one. of having unprotected sex.

First, we want to inform the younger generations of the possible after affects Second, the liability that they will have to take on the responsibility of caring
and raising another human being.

Conclusion
This was such a great case study for us because we feel like this is an issue that so many people can
relate to. There are so many different challenges with the issue of teen pregnancy and you must find a healthy way to deal with issues like this. Communication is always an important factor when dealing with a person close to you and it can either make or break relationships in your life. Our recommendation for the teen pregnancy question is: -First, we want to inform the younger generations of the possible after affects of having unprotected sex. -Second, the liability that they will have to take on the responsibility of caring and raising another human being.

With these suggestions we hope that people will be more informed about what the possibilities are
with unprotected sex and what some of the outcomes may be such as teen pregnancy.