Discussion » Questions » Family » Why do teens get pregnant ?

Why do teens get pregnant ?

My wife was watching 16 And Pregnant I don't understand the whole concept of this show. I don't see what the point I think it was suppose to help decrease teen pregnancy but it seems to be increasing. For some reason I'm friends with my wife's friends on Facebook half I don't even know they all like this show too they also all had kids at a young age. My age is having our first baby in December we're not teens we're adults we got married first we did it the right way that doesn't happen much anymore. Some have kids then get married or some have kids by 2 or 3 different dads. My wife is 5 years older than me we been best friends since we were kids I know her older brother which is how I met her through him. We weren't even ready for kids but somehow it happened. For some reason she watches this show everyday I just don't get it at all. There was even a 13 year old girl at her school who got pregnant her daughter is now gonna be 10 this year. Why do so many teens get pregnant ? 

Posted - June 19, 2019

Responses


  • 44619
    Let's see. Hmmm. They're stupid?
      June 19, 2019 8:26 AM MDT
    1

  • Nope. Just sometimes immature with a false sense of the consequences of real life as well as still developing a sense of responsibility. 
      June 19, 2019 9:03 AM MDT
    2

  • yeah.  those boys who cant keep their nut in their balls are 
    hella stupid. have some self control and pull out. 
      June 19, 2019 9:44 PM MDT
    0

  • 23
    Let me address two of your questions.

    First, the producers of 16 And Pregnant know their demographics and understand that this show is appealing to many women. They make this show not to discourage teen pregnancy. They make the show to make money. Shows like this are inexpensive to shoot and produce, and they succeed within their chosen demographic.

    Second, having fathered a child at the tender age of 15, my girlfriend was 16, I can answer this question. Ignorance! My parents never bothered to have "The Talk" with me until after I got my girlfriend pregnant. My girlfriend had been told by someone about the "Rhythm" method of birth control and that is what we tried. Unfortunately, the two of us were like a couple of rabbits. We had sex every day, often more than once a day, with little regard to where she was in her cycle. We were not careful, assuming, as most young teens do, that nothing bad would ever happen to us. Her father knew about us but did not disapprove and did nothing to either stop us or teach us. Thank God that when my parents found out, they jumped in to help us out and we gave the baby up for adoption to a good family.

    In some parts of our society, particularly in poor neighborhoods, being a teen mother or pregnant gives a child a certain status. Once having had a child, older guys prey on these teen mothers, knowing how vulnerable they are; knowing most are from single-parent families, often with a drug-addicted, non-functioning mother and no father at all. Furthermore, many welfare programs are designed to increase benefits based on additional dependents (New Kids). Consequently, there is little to no reason for a teen mother to not have more children without the support of a father or an intact family. This post was edited by Lickitysplit at June 19, 2019 11:29 AM MDT
      June 19, 2019 8:32 AM MDT
    4

  • 6098
    Well "teens" are not the only ones who get pregnant.  Like almost all of us they desire and love and are not very careful and so it happens naturally. 

    Young women enjoy the show because they are naturally interested in motherhood.  As well as love.  Motherhood proves their love and gives a focus to their lives which are often not focused on anything else. This post was edited by officegirl at June 24, 2019 6:52 AM MDT
      June 19, 2019 8:39 AM MDT
    5

  • 4624
    Very perceptive.
    My sister got pregnant at 13, deliberately. My mother forced her to get an abortion.
    My sister then had 3 more pregnancies (with the same result.)
    I asked her why. She said she wanted someone (the baby) to love and be loved by. I believed her.
    At 17 she left home, got pregnant to a man who was married with 7 children and who made it clear that he would not accept responsibility for the child.
    My sister proved a poor mother. She took the baby to India without vaccinations. The baby girl nearly died of some disease and had to be airlifted back home to a hospital, where it took six months before she fully recovered.
    My sister regularly left vitamin pills and razor blades within easy reach of the toddler.
    At 2, Sarah drowned. All the conditions were ripe to make it a highly probable accident.
    My sister, Nikki, was packing to leave after a visit to Mum's place.
    Sarah wanted to dress up in my sister's full-length nighty, and Nikki let her, thinking it would keep the child busy and out of her hair.
    The door to the courtyard and pond was open to make it easy to carry out the luggage.
    My mother was still in bed reading. I was 32 kilometres away in my studio in the inner city.
    My mother had previously taken the protective grill off the fish pond "to make it more pretty."
    Both Nikki and my mother knew that Sarah had a fascination with playing with the fish in the pond.
    They also knew that the 9-month-old Doberman pup became very excited whenever Sarah went out to play with the fish.
    Sarah went out the open door in the long nightie to play with the fish.
    The pup became excited and knocked the toddler into the fish pond.
    She became entangled in the weeds and drowned.
    My sister never had another child.
    My mother never wanted grandchildren.
    She had discovered that she hated being a mother and did not want to be involved with children again.

    Returning to the start, it was due to feeling unloved that my sister had wanted a baby.
    This is far from the only reason why teens fall pregnant, but neither is it unusual.

      June 19, 2019 9:30 PM MDT
    1

  • My mom got knocked up at 16 and married my dad at 17. Thank goodness they did things the "wrong way" otherwise I wouldn't have an older sister.

    Also, teen pregnancy rates in the US are declining and "birth rates for U.S. teens 15-19 years old dropped to a record low not seen since 1946."

    https://www.womenshealth.gov/30-achievements/09
      June 19, 2019 9:01 AM MDT
    2

  • All the evidence points to sex.

    But let us know if you have another theory.
      June 19, 2019 9:25 AM MDT
    3

  • What an unnatural abomination. 

    Say it isn't so. 
      June 19, 2019 9:29 AM MDT
    2

  • Is so.

    We must do what needs to be done.
      June 19, 2019 3:00 PM MDT
    1

  • 46117
    Why do you ask?  

    I'm curious.  Do you want to know or are you trying to ask some IMPORTANT question.  

    HOW THE HECK DOES ANYONE REALLY KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT ONE.

    1.  They are horney
    2.  They think that consequences are not going to happen
    3.  They are stoned or drunk
    4.  They want to get married
    5.  All their friends are having sex
    6.  No one is minding the store
      June 19, 2019 9:59 AM MDT
    2

  • 44619
    Thank you for expanding my answer. You are much more poetic.
      June 19, 2019 11:30 AM MDT
    0

  • 2327
    You remind me of a user from the old Answerbag (AB) site. Dior. 

    I think some teens deliberately get pregnant because they desperately want a baby, and others by carelessness without contraception. 
      June 19, 2019 2:57 PM MDT
    1

  • 7280
      June 19, 2019 3:35 PM MDT
    0

  • 4624
    It's interesting that you ask the question,
    and yet are not interested in watching the show.
    If you watched it often enough, your question would eventually be answered.

    Young girls desperately want to be loved, and often imagine that if they give sex to a boy he will love her. Some boys will fall in love, most can't because they don't yet have the emotional capacity.

    Most youthful brains have poor impulse control. It takes until age 26 for the human brain and nervous system to reach full physical maturity.

    They don't think about the future and possible consequences - or they do, but don't have enough experience to realise that what they imagine is not realistic.

    They are experimental, risk takers, love adventure, and may often be on drugs or drunk.

    Parents are not watching out for their kids and being responsible - or the kids are rebelling and being skillfully secretive.

    In religious families, they may be seeking a way to escape the family by getting married and starting a separate life of their own.

    Group pressure; their friends are boasting about having sex and they want to feel "normal."


      June 19, 2019 9:41 PM MDT
    0

  • 4624
    It's interesting that you ask the question,
    and yet are not interested in watching the show.
    If you watched it often enough, your question would eventually be answered.

    Young girls desperately want to be loved, and often imagine that if they give sex to a boy he will love her.
    Some boys will fall in love. Most can't because they don't yet have the emotional capacity.

    In religious families, they may be seeking a way to escape the family by getting married and starting a separate life of their own.

    Most youthful brains have poor impulse control. It takes until age 26 for the human brain and nervous system to reach full physical maturity.

    They don't think about the future and possible consequences - or they do, but don't have enough experience to realise that what they imagine is not realistic.

    They are experimental, risk takers, love adventure, and may often be on drugs or drunk.

    Parents are not watching out for their kids and being responsible - or the kids are rebelling and being skillfully secretive.

    Group pressure; their friends are boasting about having sex and they want to feel "normal."

    Some pregnancies are not voluntary; they are the result of rape or incest. The girl has been groomed and conned. This is far more common than most people realise. Psychologists estimate that one in ten girls are sexually abused by an adult well known to her and her family. 




    This post was edited by inky at June 24, 2019 7:15 AM MDT
      June 19, 2019 9:42 PM MDT
    1