Argumentative Essay

Ajna Miller

English 2

Block 1

October 25, 2012

Be a Daughter, Not a Mother. Be a Son, Not a Father.

What if it was you bare-foot and pregnant alone and helpless? What if you were at risk of never graduating high school? What if you never got to complete your goals for the future? What if...Teen pregnancy is no laughing matter, it is a serious issue in the world. I would know. My 5-Month old nephew is the result of a teen pregnancy and his birth was not planned for his parents had goals of finishing high school, going to college, and having a successful marriage and career all before they were going to have kids. Unfortunately that did not happen because on June of 2011 my brother’s girlfriend found out she was pregnant. They quickly decided they were not going to give up the baby and started to try and make plans for their new future together. Even though, they knew it was going to be rough they were willing to work hard to provide for their child. My inspiration for this blog is their story, and I just wanted to make it known that teen pregnancy is not an issue that can be held back until a later date; I wanted to research and explore the possible reasons teen pregnancy is increasing so rapidly for teens from broken homes.You have a choice to stop the cycle, but it is also your choice to keep it going.

                Some say that bullying maybe one cause of teen pregnancy, they just might be right. According to, the article “Childhood Bullying as a predictor for becoming a teenage mother in Finland” bullies and bully- victims have a strong chance of getting pregnant at an early age. It has been proven that if you were ever bullied or a bully you have an 8.2% chance of becoming a teen mom.  Also the article states that “Research has suggested that both bullies and pregnant teenagers have experienced family dysfunction more often than their non-bullying or non-pregnant peers.” Pregnant teens that had been bullied or where bullies came from a dysfunctional family or broken home which caused them to search for love in all the wrong places. Another point the article makes is that “Bullies seem to start dating earlier and participate in more advanced forms of dating, but their relationships also tend to be less supportive and more violent.” This explains that since bullies are missing that one parent or that family support and have no compassion at home they search for the only love they know which is violence. Therefore, they are more willing to participate in more advanced sexual forms of infatuation.

                When, it comes to television all teens watch it even the more explicit sexual content. According to the article“Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy?”, “… exposure to sex on television may increase the risk of teen pregnancy either by accelerating the initiation of sexual intercourse or by creating the perception that there is little risk to sex without contraceptive use (or both).” This quote explains that sexual content on television can influence a teen’s decision to have sex before they are ready, and since children from broken family’s are already vulnerable they are more likely to concur with what the television program is suggesting.  The article also explains that “Compared with children of older mothers, children born to adolescent mothers are at higher risk of low birth weight, limited fine motor skills, and low math and reading abilities; these children are also more likely to drop out of high school themselves.” This is stating that children born into a broken home are at risk of having severe learning problems and weight problems. Also the children of adolescent parents are at risk of never graduating high school. Therefore, they are at risk of becoming teen mothers or fathers themselves.

                Being a teen mom is anything but easy and going through it with little high school education and no career is nearly impossible. As Denise Rinaldo narrarates Jennifer Swims story she proves that not only can a teen be a successful teen mom, but also be a loving wife. In the article “The Tough Life of a Teen Mom” Denise Rinaldo shows teens the life of Jennifer Swims who “…was doing well in school. One of the starting five on her high school basketball team, she dreamed of going to college and playing hoops. She wanted to study to become a doctor.” This quote proves that even though, theses teens came from broken homes had every intention of accomplishing goals that they never were inspired to complete before they were even going to think about children. Also the article says that “As a kid Jennifer was passed from relative to relative and didn’t have a stable home” This proves that as a result of Jennifer not having a stable home she became a teenage mother too soon.

                The issue of teen pregnancy is a very serious essential problem in the world and to stop the spread of teenage parents we need to recognize the predictors and experiences that cause this predicament. The only way to for sure get teen pregnancy to decrease is to try to get teens that live in a dysfunctional family or broken home stimulated and drill into their brains that they are able to be anything they put their minds to. We also need to help get the teens to understand having a child is not the correct way to fill a void that can only be replaced by the love and compassion of one’s biological parents. They have to understand that the way to gain love is to accomplish all the goals you set for your future and then if the time is right all the love one  desires will come  when you have established a career, home, and support system for yourself. In conclusion when the teen pregnancy situation is brought up the first thing said is “how could this happen? With all the contraception in the world how could this happen to me?” Well did you ever think it is not you but the life you were born into? Many parents think “I have done everything rightwhere could I have gone wrong?” Maybe it is not you but it’s the life style your child is in or maybe it’s just that parent that is missing in a teen’s life that can cause their home to be broken and cause teens to look somewhere else for that missing love which can quite possibly come from the birth of a child.

Work Cited Page

Chandra, Anita, Steven C. Martino, Rebecca L. Collins, Marc N. Elliott, Sandra H. Berry, David E. Kanouse, and Angela Miu. "Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings From a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth." Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings From a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. N.p., Nov.-Dec. 2008. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. <http://www.pediatricsdigest.mobi/content/122/5/1047.full?sid=ee791bef-ccd2-413c-911b-ffbeb88b70e4>.

Works Cited
Rinaldo, Denise. "The Tough Life Of A Teen Mom." Scholastic Choices 27.4 (2012): 8. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.


Lehti, Venla, Andre Sourander, AnatKlomek, SoljaNiemela¨, LauriSillanmaki, JormaPiha, KirstiKumpulainen, TuulaTamminen, Irma Moilanen, and Fredrik Almqvist. "Childhood Bulllying as a Predictor for Becoming a Teen Mother in Finland."Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry (2011) 20:49–55.N.p., 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://forumboards.info/archive/index.php?t-50-p-8.html>.