QandAs: Health

What Is Teenage Pregnancy?

Answer:
Teenage pregnancy is defined as a teenaged or underage girl (typically considered age 13-19) becoming pregnant.

In common speech, it usually refers to women who have not legally becomes adults who become pregnant.

The first menstrual cycle typically occurs around age 12, and the first ovulation occurs irregularly after this point. The age when this occurs will vary based on the age and weight of the girl. This age has been declining over the years, and it continues that trend today. Both societal and personal factors will play into whether an early pregnancy occurs. The rate of teen pregnancy varies greatly throughout the world, from 2.9 per 1000 in South Korea to 143 per 1000 in sub-Saharan Africa.

Teenaged pregnant girls will face many of the same obstetrics issues as women in their twenties and thirties. However, girls under age 15 will face additional medical risk factors. Young women between age 15 and age 19 will not face age-based risk factors, but socioeconomic risk factors may be present for them.

In developed, or western, countries, teenaged pregnancy is a social issue, and it directly relates to lower education levels, higher poverty rates, and other negative outcomes in the children of teenage mothers. In developed countries, teenage pregnancy is typically outside of marriage, and in many communities and cultures it carries a negative social stigma. Many attempts have been made to educate, uncover the causes, and limit the numbers of teenagers who become pregnant. In developing countries, teenage pregnancy is usually within the confines of marriage and does not carry any such social stigma.

Within the developed world, the United States and New Zealand have the highest rate of teenage pregnancies, whereas Japan and South Korea have the lowest rates of teenage pregnancy.