Social problems can be simply defined as those problems, which affect the society in addition to the person who falls victim. That is, they are problems that occur outside the limits of personal problems. As such, it is not possible for these problems to be solved by an individual alone since they normally require the intervention of every individual in the society. One such problem is the issue of teenage pregnancy that is currently being experienced in most parts of the world.
In America, the issue of teenage pregnancy has proved to be a social problem given the alarming rates of teenage pregnancy being experienced in the nation. Statistics have indicated that about one million teenagers in America get pregnant each year (Gillham 13).
This is to mean that approximately one out every four teenagers in America is pregnant or has a child. These rates have proved to be the highest in the Western world. From this, it can be clearly depicted that teenage pregnancy is a critical issue facing the United States of America.
Teenage pregnancy is a social interaction problem because of the burden that the society faces as a result of this problem. First, teenage pregnancy in most cases occurs to girls below the age of twenty years. At this age, the girl is normally expected to be pursuing their studies in high school or college. However, when the girl becomes pregnant, chances of going on with their studies are normally minimal (Kaplan).
This is because of the fact that the child becomes a burden to the teenage mother hence preventing her from completing her studies. This teenage girl eventually becomes semi-illiterate and it becomes difficult to get a job with their level of education. The pregnancy eventually makes the teenage girl depend on the society hence a burden on the society. For instance, the government of the United States of America recently states that it spends close to $6.9 billion on the public assistance of teenage pregnancy crisis.
Secondly, the victims of teenage pregnancy normally refrain from interacting with their peers as they did before the pregnancy (Checkland and Wong). Most of the teenage girls who have fallen victim of teenage pregnancy normally feel ashamed and decide to keep to themselves.
As such, teenage pregnancy robs of the teenagers their childhood by making them act as adults while their ages do not allow them to do so. This eventually leads to poor health since they spend most of their time thinking of their situation, which is despised in the society.
Having seen at how the problem of teenage pregnancy adversely affects the American society it is important that the preventive and corrective measures be taken in order to help curb this problem. Research conducted in the United States of America has indicated that most of the teenage pregnancies are as a result of lack or poor use of contraceptives (Kaplan).
As such, the government of the United States of America should evolve ways through which the entire public and especially the teenagers will be educated and informed of the contraception methods in order to reduce cases of teenage pregnancies. It is also important that the teenagers be informed of the risks of engaging in pre-marital sex such as risks of being infected with the endless list of sexually transmitted infections/ diseases.
Works Cited
Checkland, David and Wong, James. Teen Pregnancy and Parenting: Social and Ethical Issues. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1999. Print.
Gillham, Bill. The facts about teenage pregnancies. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 1997. Print.
Kaplan, Elaine. Not Our Kind of Girl: Unraveling the Myths of Black Teenage Motherhood. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997. Print.