Danawi   28  Teen Pregnancy

•  Teen pregnancy in the United States has become a pressing public health concern with increasing rates surpassing other developed countries such as Canada, Japan, and Switzerland.

Danawi   28  Teen Pregnancy

• Sexual behavior and the reproductive health of adolescents have become major public health concerns globally and in the United States
•  Teenage pregnancy rates vary greatly between different states

Danawi   28  Teen Pregnancy

• The teenage pregnancy rate for African American teens was almost twice that of white teens.
• Childbirth educators benefit from an awareness of these rates to educate affected specific groups on related health issues and discuss available resources to them and are offered on both the federal and local levels

Danawi   29  Social Determinants in the United States and Unintended Pregnancies

• Social determinants of health are considered the conditions where people are born, where they grow up, and where they live and work.
•  Four social determinants of health that may influence teenage pregnancy rates 
• 1) income
• 2) education
• 3) social support networks
• 4) living environment

Danawi   29  Education and Unintended Teenage Pregnancy in the U.S.

• Education is another important social determinant for unintended pregnancies as the completion of higher education improves the health of adolescents as well as their health literacy
• Those with low levels of formal education are more likely to experience teenage pregnancies
•  Teens who live in a poor environment may feel that due to limited educational opportunities, there is no use in delaying child birth

Danawi   29  Living Environment and Unintended Teenage Pregnancy in the U.S.

• The last important social determinant of teenage pregnancy is the living environment.
• Teenagers who live in overcrowded areas with poor public infrastructure and high levels of violence are at a greater risk for experiencing severe outcomes such as unintended pregnancies 
•  The daughter of a teen mother is at a higher risk for experiencing unintended pregnancy as a teen

Danawi   29  Cultural Awareness and Unintended Teenage Pregnancy

• Cultural awareness affects a person’s views on the world and is based on learned behavior that is passed from generation to generation
• some cultures believe that early motherhood will secure their relationships with their boyfriends

Danawi   30  Life Expectancy and Unintended Teenage Pregnancy

• One major contribution to the life expectancy ranking could be the rate of teenage mothers as they seem to have poorer health status and higher mortality
• teen mothers are at increased risk for heart disease and cervical cancer, which are among the top ten causes of death
•  teenage pregnancies place these adolescent mothers at a greater risk for living in poverty and in a lower socioeconomic level

Danawi   30  Development of Health Policy in the U.S.

•  to decrease teenage pregnancies, policies should be culturally sensitive so as not to alienate different racial and ethnic groups as well as target upstream issues.
• policies that directly target sex education, access to contraception, and abstinence are not likely to improve teen pregnancy rates and teen births among disadvantaged populations

Danawi  30 Rates On Pregnancy 

• The unintended pregnancy rate in DC is much higher than the rate nationwide 
• The adolescents in DC are more likely to have their sexual debut prior to 13 years old