Risking the Future

Risking the Future PDF Author: Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309036984
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
More than 1 million teenage girls in the United States become pregnant each year; nearly half give birth. Why do these young people, who are hardly more than children themselves, become parents? This volume reviews in detail the trends in and consequences of teenage sexual behavior and offers thoughtful insights on the issues of sexual initiation, contraception, pregnancy, abortion, adoption, and the well-being of adolescent families. It provides a systematic assessment of the impact of various programmatic approaches, both preventive and ameliorative, in light of the growing scientific understanding of the topic.

Risking the Future

Risking the Future PDF Author: Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309036984
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
More than 1 million teenage girls in the United States become pregnant each year; nearly half give birth. Why do these young people, who are hardly more than children themselves, become parents? This volume reviews in detail the trends in and consequences of teenage sexual behavior and offers thoughtful insights on the issues of sexual initiation, contraception, pregnancy, abortion, adoption, and the well-being of adolescent families. It provides a systematic assessment of the impact of various programmatic approaches, both preventive and ameliorative, in light of the growing scientific understanding of the topic.

Destinies of the Disadvantaged

Destinies of the Disadvantaged PDF Author: Frank F. Furstenberg
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610442342
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Teen childbearing has risen to frighteningly high levels over the last four decades, jeopardizing the life chances of young parents and their offspring alike, particularly among minority communities. Or at least, that's what politicians on the right and left often tell us, and what the American public largely believes. But sociologist Frank Furstenberg argues that the conventional wisdom distorts reality. In Destinies of the Disadvantaged, Furstenberg traces the history of public concern over teen pregnancy, exploring why this topic has become so politically powerful, and so misunderstood. Based on over forty years of Furstenberg's research on teen childbearing, Destinies of the Disadvantaged relates how the issue emerged from obscurity to become one of the most heated social controversies in America. Both slipshod research by social scientists and opportunistic grandstanding by politicians have contributed to public misunderstanding of the issue. Although out-of-wedlock teen pregnancy rose notably between 1960 and 1990—a cause for concern given the burdens of single motherhood at a young age—this trend did not reflect a rise in the rate of overall teen pregnancies. In fact, teen pregnancy actually declined dramatically in the 1960s and 1970s. The number of unmarried teenage mothers rose after 1960, not because more young women became pregnant, but because those who did increasingly chose not to rush into marriage. Furstenberg shows how early social science research on this topic exaggerated the adverse consequences of early parenthood both for young parents and for their children. Researchers also inaccurately portrayed single teenage motherhood as a phenomenon concentrated among minorities. Both of these misapprehensions skewed subsequent political debates. The issue became a public obsession and remained so during the 1990s, even as rates of out-of-wedlock teen childbearing plummeted. Addressing teen pregnancy was originally a liberal cause, led by advocates of family planning services, legalized abortion, and social welfare programs for single mothers. The issue was later adopted by conservatives, who argued that those liberal remedies were encouraging teen parenthood. According to Furstenberg, the flexible political usefulness of the issue explains its hold on political discourse. The politics of teen parenthood is a fascinating case study in the abuse of social science for political ends. In Destinies of the Disadvantaged, Furstenberg brings that tale to life with the perspective of a historian and the insight of an insider, and provides the straight facts needed to craft effective policies to address teen pregnancy.

When Children Want Children

When Children Want Children PDF Author: Leon Dash
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252071232
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former Washington Post reporter Leon Dash spent a year living in one of the poorest ghettos in Washington, D.C., and a total of seventeen months conducting interviews examining the causes and effects of the ever-lowering age of teenage parents among poor black youths. Dash had expected to find inadequate sex education and lack of birth control to be the root cause of the growing trend toward early motherhood, but his conversations with the mothers themselves revealed the truth to be more complex. A riveting account of the human stories behind the statistics, When Children Want Children allows readers to hear the voices of young adults struggling with poverty and parenthood and gets to the heart of teenage parents' cultural values and motivations.

The Facts about Teenage Pregnancies

The Facts about Teenage Pregnancies PDF Author: Bill Gillham
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0304336157
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 95

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Book Description
This helpful and practical book addresses the key issues surrounding this complex and emotive subject. Drawing on the latest research evidence, with a minimum of jargon, Bill Gillham examines the causes and consequences of teenage pregnancies and argues for changes to be made - including more realistic education about parenthood and greater accessibility for teenagers to contraceptive services. The Facts About Teenage Pregnancies is an invaluable book for all professionals who work with teenagers and their families.

Dubious Conceptions

Dubious Conceptions PDF Author: Kristin Luker
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674217034
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Traces the way popular attitudes came to demonize young mothers and examines the profound social and economic changes that have influenced debate on the issue, especially since the 1970s. --From publisher description.

Facts About Teenage Pregnancies

Facts About Teenage Pregnancies PDF Author: Bill Gillham
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1847143342
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 95

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Book Description
This text presents facts and figures about the incidence of teenage pregnancies throughout Europe together with current research based information on this subject. Bill Gillham looks at the accompanying problems of stress and emotional, financial and quality of life problems which in turn may lead to abuse and neglect of the child. He analyzes these areas and asserts that teenage pregnancies, with effective support and care, need not be such a problem.

Social Dynamics of Adolescent Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa

Social Dynamics of Adolescent Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309048974
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
This examination of changes in adolescent fertility emphasizes the changing social context within which adolescent childbearing takes place.

Teenage Sex and Pregnancy

Teenage Sex and Pregnancy PDF Author: Mike A. Males
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313385629
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
This detailed, exhaustively documented account shows how and why just about everyone in today's teen pregnancy debate is wrong—often disastrously so. Teenage Sex and Pregnancy: Modern Myths, Unsexy Realities presents a unique view of its subject by analyzing the extensive myths and fears that surround discussion of teenage sex and pregnancy, including their relationship to popular culture, poverty, adult sexual behaviors, and anxieties toward the increasingly public roles of young women. Award-winning author Mike Males argues that today's discussions rely largely on falsehoods and the suppression of crucial realities. His work details a new view of popular culture as a largely beneficial feature of teens' lives and presents a carefully documented analysis demolishing destructive myths about the "new girl." Debunking popular arguments, he shows that the "teen sex" debate is mired in interest-group talking points that ignore difficult realities to advance politically attuned agendas. It's time, he writes, to modernize the discussion, recognizing that teens act in ways consistent with their interests, with the sexual behaviors of adults, and with the school and job opportunities afforded them.

Teenage Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing

Teenage Sexuality, Pregnancy, and Childbearing PDF Author: Frank F. Furstenberg
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press Anniversary Collection
ISBN:
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Examining the social consequences of teenage childbearing, the editors explain the effects on adolescent parents themselves, their offspring, and their families, and discuss ways of preventing or tempering those effects. Why have Americans suddenly become troubled about teenage sexuality, pregnancy, and childbearing? These are not new problems, certainly, and the birthrate among teenagers--even the youngest of them--has been declining for some years. What has aroused public concern, according to the editors of these essays, is the increased visibility of the problem. The pregnant teenager is no longer expelled from school and forced to marry or discreetly bear a child out of wedlock. She has the option of abortion, and even if she decides to have the child, she is even more likely not to marry. Thus, the sensitivity of Americans to the issues of abortion and illegitimacy is inexorably linked to their concern about adolescent sexuality and pregnancy. The attention focused on the problem has resulted in a considerable amount of research on the causes and consequences of teenage pregnancy, and on the means of preventing it. Over the past decade, Family Planning Perspectives has published much, if not most, of the research on the causes, consequences, and means of coping with problems associated with teenage pregnancy and childbearing. From about 100 articles, the editors have selected 28 key reports that illuminate the issue for scholars, students, and professionals who work with young people in various settings. The contributors to the first section examine historical trends in regard to teenage sexual activity, use of contraception and abortion, pregnancy, and childbirth in and out of wedlock in the context of other changes in social structure and mores. The second section assesses the serious adverse consequences of early childbearing on the young people involved, on their children, and on society. The third section looks into what courses of action are practicable to help teenagers avert the pregnancies and births they do not wish to have, and to cope with problems resulting from early childbearing. The final section evaluates current programs and materials designed to help teenagers prevent unwanted pregnancies or deal with pregnancy when it occurs; it also reviews the state of the law involving contraception, abortion, and pregnancy among teenagers. The book includes an overview and section introductions by the editors, which draw together the implications of the contributions and those of other investigators who have written on this subject. All articles, as well as the editors' contributions, are followed by extensive, up-to-date bibliographies

The Health of America's Children

The Health of America's Children PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Child health services
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description