What factors influence teen pregnancy and risk of sexually transmitted infections?

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What Factors Influences Teen Pregnancy and Risk of Sexually Transmitted Infections?
Teenage pregnancy is the pregnancy of female adolescents aged 13-19 years. Due to the prevalence of many cases of adolescent pregnancies within each year, there has been a need to evaluate the main factors that influence it. In the US alone, there about 1,000 teen pregnancy and births for girls aged 18–19 years every year. It’s an act that not only exposes these kids to risks such as STDs but also stands a risk of contracting pregnancy-induced hypertension, disrupting the unborn baby’s growth as well as premature birth (Kohler 344). Some of the primary factors that influence teen pregnancy include early engagement, poverty, sexual abuse, drug abuse, peer pressure and lack of awareness on the knowledge about reproduction. This essay will focus on the significant influences of teen pregnancy and the risks of sexually transmitted infections.
Poverty is the primary influencer of teen pregnancy, and research proves that most teens that contract pregnancies arise from poor backgrounds. This aspect of poverty influences teen pregnancies and the risk of STDs in different ways. First of all, poverty hinders these young girls from acquiring education thus lack of knowledge about reproduction and ideas on contraception thus easily end up engaging in unprotected sex once they enter the adolescent period (Kohler 345). Also due to poverty, these young girls are easily engaged so that their parents can acquire dowry.

Therefore, these teens may not be willing to be married at, but due to the environment, they are in they end up becoming expectant at an early age and at a position of being infected with STDs such AIDs.
Drug abuse is another main factor that leads to teen pregnancies in the world. Adolescents tend to engage in binge drinking, partying and use of hard drugs, these substances impair their thinking, and in most cases, these adolescent girls end up participating in unprotected sex that ends up making them expectant at that early age.
Sexual abuse and peer pressure is the other major factor that leads to early pregnancies. Older male individuals easily coerce teen girls into sex practices an act that eventually expose these young girls into pregnancies and some end up contracting STDs. Also, it has been proved that teen girls are in many instances compelled or pressured to engage in early and unsafe sex to express their love or loyalty to the friends a factor that is manipulative an in most cases lead these girls into early pregnancies.
In conclusion, it is evident that some of the main factors that expose teens to early pregnancy and a position of contracting STDs are poverty, peer pressure, and sexual abuse and drug abuse. These factors can be controlled once appropriate measures are put into place. Therefore, measures to address these significant factors need to be implemented to secure the future of this generation.
Work Cited
Kohler, P. K., Manhart, L. E., & Lafferty, W. E. (2008). Abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education and the initiation of sexual activity and teen pregnancy. Journal of Adolescent Health, 42(4), 344-351.