Effects of Teen Pregnancy on the Mother and Child

Effects of Teen Pregnancy on the Mother and Child. Teen Pregnancy you hear about it but, never really think that it could be you until that is you, your life is about to flip completely upside down. Your life changes but so does the child’s who isn't even born yet, most teen mothers are not ready to graduate high school much less raise a child. Think about it, the child is coming into a world of complete chaos possibly not having a father, the mother is not ready, and maybe even not getting to meet the person that carried you for 9 months and going straight into the adoption system. Maybe the child will be loved more than it could’ve with the birth mother maybe it doesn't get loved. The mother and child will both live their lives knowing that there is someone out there they have never met.

On the other side, there are also teen moms who are living their best lives with their baby and a happy family. For example, this is Emily, she was 17 years old and just starting her senior year of high school when she got pregnant. She and her boyfriend had been together for about a year. She was very involved with her school she played the flute and was the captain of her school’s dance team. She was also very involved in taking dance classes and even taught her own classes at her studio outside of school. When Emily found out she was pregnant fear was the biggest thing she felt, but she also felt a strange calmness about being a teen mom. Telling her parents was her biggest fear and is what made her scared the most. Of course she was nervous about how she would be able to care for a child and how her life would change from what she had planned.

On the other side her boyfriend had big plans to go to college with Emily and someday marry her but this was about to change everything. Did she consider not keeping the child? No, She never considered that due to her being adopted herself she didn’t want to do that to her child. Emily knew from the beginning she would raise the child. She went through her senior year and a week before she had her baby turned one Emily and her boyfriend ended up getting married. At the time they both were full time college students, working and trying to raise a baby girl. A little over a year Emily and her boyfriend ended getting divorced. She ended up getting remarried when her daughter was about three years old and had another child shortly after. Now when she isn’t running children around she works on her own photography business.

Through all of this she is still doing well in life and has a happy marriage with four children, when asked if she has any advice teen moms could apply to their lives, she said “don’t get lost in the negative but choose the find the positive. ” Effects of graduation rates 30% of all teen girls dropout of high school due to teen pregnancy. Less than 2% of teen mothers finish college by age 30. Teen mothers who give have the child while attending a community college 65% less likely to complete their degree.