Teenage Parenting

Regardless of the race, socioeconomic or educational status, becoming a teenage parent can be a life-altering experience. It places motherhood demands and responsibilities on the teenager, which can be daunting and overwhelming in the adult-oriented and dominated systems. School-aged mothers who lack emotional support of their own parents, peers, and boyfriends undergo a terrifying experience; often, they feel alienated and rejected. They do not know where to go and whom to turn to.
Teenage Mothers and Education Attainment
Teenage parents experience a reduction in education attainment as compared to their non-parent peers as write a lot of dissertation conclusions https://bestwritingservice.com/best-dissertation-conclusion.html. However, the increase in resource and emotional support especially at school and home can help fill the existing gap.
Most teenage mothers aged between 13 and 19 display weak psychological condition/stability when exposed to the pressure of parental responsibility. If they do not receive supportive intervention and resources they need to cope with parenthood both at home and school, their personal strengths and overall coping lead to detrimental results. It causes dropping out of school due to stigmatization, alienation, and isolation from parents, peers, family, school, and social agencies.
The structural disorganization of the educators (school) characterized by rigid policies and procedures concerning attendance does not provide adequate possibility to fulfill child care responsibilities. Negative interaction with teachers and rigidity of crediting home study leads to a negative perception of education and its relevance among teenage parents, thus leading to dropping out of school. The school climate should facilitate the teenage mothers to progress but not to hinder their academic attainment. According to the research by Brownson, “teenage mothers who receive school-based support and child care fared better than their peers who did receive the support. This is due to psychological stability that increased the school focus and interest in further education with the aim to facilitate employment possibilities and avoid depending on public assistance.
Despite the growing enlightening of the society, teenage pregnancy and motherhood is regarded as a serious social problem both in Europe and North America. It is negatively perceived; moreover, it is associated with prostitution, alcohol, drug, unhappy and unstable families. Statistics by Brosh, Wiegel and Evan indicate that only about 33 percent of teen mothers graduate from high school, about 67 percent of them drop out/never graduated, and less than 2 percent earn a college degree by the age of 30, compared to 76 percent of women who delayed their motherhood to 21 years of age and older.
2% teenage mothers with college degree aged 30.
98% did not attain a college degree aged 30
Fig 1.Adopted from Brosh, Weigel, & Evans, 2007.
33% High school graduates
67% Did not graduate high school
Fig 2. Adopted from Brosh, Weigel, & Evans, 2007.
According to Smith-Battle, the teenage mothers’ beliefs about the effects of pregnancy and motherhood are short-living and will not substantially interfere with their education and future employment. This implies that the school personnel and parents need to understand the teenagers’ needs and focus on helping them in the academically challenging assignments that will help achieve their goals not viewing the teenage mothers as welfare recipients and students of low academic achievement. Through education, the early parenthood economic challenges and burdens can be minimized helping teenage mothers achieve both economic and personal goals.
Teenage mothers may opt to get married to avoid stigmatization; this decreases their academic attainment. Policy makers should think about taking such measures as giving financial aid packages to provide resources to encourage going back to school. Also, the teenage moms should be encouraged to live with at least one parent, with whom they can share childcare and other duties.
The teenage mothers hide the fact of having a child because of the stigma associated with teenage parenting. Thus, the school administration and teachers may not even know which student is a parent. This may lead to the lack of advocacy for teenage parents and inappropriate attention to their developmental needs. The school system should be helping the mothers to balance between educational and parental needs and responsibilities. Moreover, emotional support like counselling will help in psychological transformation, reinforce the need for education, and increase the self-drive, commitment, and dedication to succeeding in the future. Therefore, both school and personal support are important in enhancing teenage mothers’ academic competitiveness and achievement.

In order to increase the academic attainment of the teen mothers, the teenager must be supported emotionally, accepted and not isolated both at home and school. This will transform her psychologically and help develop a positive attitude towards the future. The parents should help their daughters with childcare and encourage them in doing educational tasks. The school administration and teachers should modify the rigid policies that victimize the teenage mothers. The school should offer support to allow flexibility in attendance and credit home-study programs that can help the teenagers balance between parental responsibilities and academic needs. By doing so, they will support the teenage mothers in attaining their academic and future goals. This will increase their chances of employment and providing a secure life for the already born baby.