Tag: teen

About Teen Pregnancy

The US teen birth rate (births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19 years) has been declining since 1991.  Teen birth rates continued to decline from 17.4 per 1,000 females in 2018 to 16.7 per 1,000 females in 2019.  This is another record low for US teens and a decrease of 4% from 2018. Birth rates fell 7% for females aged 15 to 17 years and 4% for females aged 18 to 19 years.

Although reasons for the declines are not totally clear, evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, and more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years.

Still, the US teen pregnancy rate is substantially higher than in other western industrialized nations, and racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates persist.

Disparities in Teen Birth Rates

Teen birth rates declined from 2018 to 2019 for several racial groups and for Hispanics. Among 15- to 19-year-olds, teen birth rates decreased:

  • 5.2% for Hispanic females.
  • 5.8% for non-Hispanic White females.
  • 1.9% for non-Hispanic Black females.

Rates for non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/AN), non-Hispanic Asians, and non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islander teenagers were unchanged.

In 2019, the birth rates for Hispanic teens (25.3) and non-Hispanic Black teens (25.8) were more than two times higher than the rate for non-Hispanic White teens (11.4). The birth rate of American Indian/Alaska Native teens (29.2) was highest among all race/ethnicities.

Birth Rates for Females Aged 15 to 19 Years, by Race and Hispanic Origin of Mother: United States, 2018 and 2019

Birth Rates per 1,000 Females Aged 15 to 19 Years, by Race and Hispanic Origin of Mother: United States, 2018 and 2019. All races and origins, 2018: 17.4; 2019: 16.7 Non-Hispanic White, 2018: 12.1; 2019: 11.4 Non-Hispanic Black, 2018: 26.3; 2019: 25.8 Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native, 2018: 29.7; 2019: 29.2 Non-Hispanic Asian, 2018: 2.8; 2019: 2.7 Non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 2018: 26.5; 2019: 26.2 Hispanic, 2018: 26.7; 2019: 25.3

Data source: Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Osterman MJK, Driscoll AK. Births: final data for 2019. Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2021;70(2):1–50.

Geographic differences in teen birth rates persist, both within and across states. Although among states with low overall teen birth rates, some counties have high teen birth rates.

Social determinants of health, such as low education and low income levels of a teen’s family, may contribute to high teen birth rates. Teens in certain settings are at higher risk of teen pregnancy and birth than other groups. For example, young women living in foster care are more than twice as likely to become pregnant than young women not in foster care.

To improve the life opportunities of adolescents facing significant health disparities and to have the greatest effect on overall US teen birth rates, CDC uses data to inform and direct interventions and resources to areas with the greatest need.

The Importance of Prevention

female and male teen

Teen pregnancy and childbearing are associated with increased social and economic costs through immediate and long-term effects on teen parents and their children.

  • Pregnancy and birth are significant contributors to high school dropout rates among girls. Only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age, whereas approximately 90% of women who do not give birth during adolescence graduate from high school.
  • The children of teenage mothers are more likely to have lower school achievement and to drop out of high school, have more health problems, be incarcerated at some time during adolescence, give birth as a teenager, and face unemployment as a young adult.
  • On a positive note, between 1991 and 2015, the teen birth rate dropped 64%, which resulted in $4.4 billion in public savings in 2015 alone.

5 BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE YOU TURN 20

Turning 20 means that you are embarking on your big 20s of your life where you can go to bars, make bad decisions, thrive in college, fall wildly in love which most of us won’t do because we are adults with responsibilities, society is crushing our soul and we have no money but nevertheless, before you embark to your 20s you must read these books that will lend you a helping hand in your 20s. These books will help you figure out or make you feel normal when everything around you is changing or give you advice to sought out your problems or comfort you. So, pick any one book….


1.THE ART OF WAR BY SUN TZU
The art of war is a military manual written by sun Tzu back in the 5th century BC. You may ask why a military manual is useful for us common people? Sun Tzu was a military general who believed that war was based on rules of spirituality and compassion. His writings are filled with wisdom on how to tackle a tough situation with elegance and ease. It’s a beautiful book that gives us an immense understanding of how we should strategize and intercept our problems. As a teen who is stepping into adulthood, this book offers plenty of advice and know-how but most importantly teaches us grace and elegance.


2.THE KITE RUNNER BY KHALED HOUSSEINI
The book is filled with life lessons and will resonate with you as you get older. This book is beautifully painful and will touch your heart. This book is heart touching, filled with heartbreak but poignant story of two boys. Despite the sadness that shrouds the story the book still ends on an optimistic note and sometimes that’s all we can do.


3.NORWEGIAN WOOD BY HARUKI MURAKAMI
The running theme in the book is nostalgia and searching for our inner identity. The book is marked with understanding why we humans feel the way we feel and how each of us deals with sadness and regret in different ways. This book retains the main truth of life that life itself is a bittersweet journey.


4.CATCHER IN THE RYE BY J.D SALINGER
This book captures the story of teenager Holden Caulfield who has been kicked out of is school and runs away to New York city to avoid meeting his parents. The book is a poignant tale about the ‘phoniness of the world we live in “. The book deals with angst, depression, and how its difficult to find a human connection in this phony world. This story is something any teen can understand and go through.

5.THE DEVIL WEARS THE PRADA BY LAUREN WEISBERGER
This story is about a recently graduated girl who struggles to cope with the world and has to change herself to fit in but eventually realizes that her worth. This book holds true to the world cut-throat job market, crazy bosses who hate everyone, and an overworked employee who doesn’t have any time. This book is a heartwarming story that stays true to the ethics of the real world.

Conspiracy Theories & Chill

Let’s get illuminaughty

False Flag Theorists

False flag theorists see darker forces behind whatever sinister world events are taking place. They believe events such as gun massacres and terror attacks are staged to make it appear as if some other group designed and carried out the event – in effect planting a false flag at the scene. The “false flag” concept can be virtually applied to just about any world event – the 9/11 attacks, so some believe, weren’t carried out by al-Qaeda but the Bush administration as an excuse for war in the Middle East.

Bilderberg Group

The Bilderberg group is an annual meeting of ‘elite intellectuals’ from across the world to discuss — well, no-one really knows. No minutes are published of the meetings, which take place behind closed doors amid tight security. The group has been accused of everything from plotting the rise and fall of world leaders to trying to form a New World Order, made up of the top figures in banks, corporations and countries.

The Mandela Effect

It is a phenomenon where a group of people collectively misremember a fact or an event. The term was coined by the paranormal enthusiast Fiona Broome. She along with many other people, remember Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s rather than from illness in 2013. Some of them even claim they remember his funeral being broadcasted on TV, like do you remember the Monopoly Man wearing a monocle? You’re not the only one. However, if you look at him carefully, you’ll realize he’s not wearing a monocle. He never has. While the famous Snow White quote you’ve probably heard others say and repeated yourself is “Mirror, mirror on the wall,” it turns out the correct line is “Magic mirror on the wall” Some people also remember the second part of that quote being “Who is the fairest of them all?” but apparently it’s “Who is the fairest one of all?

Britney Spears Was an Instrument of the Bush Administration

What if Britney Spears’s public meltdown, a series of bizarre events and public outburst— the head shaving incident which ultimately resulted in her receiving a conservatorship and losing custody of her children to ex-hubby Kevin Federline— wasn’t the result of her own personal issues? There are theories that say Britney was being paid by the Bush administration to grab headlines away from the corrupt and incompetent White House. 

BONUS

 The Illuminati is real, lizard people are also real, and the Earth is hollow with a colony of people living inside the middle, just kidding (maybe). But there are way crazier, way more coherent truths out there waiting to be seen.

So for all you conspiracy theory lovers, here are some shows and documentaries you would want to watch-  

  • WORMWOOD
  • THE TRAFFICERS
  • UNDERWORLD, INC.
  • DIRTY MONEY.

13 THINGS I WISH I’D KNOWN AT THE AGE OF 13

  1. You don’t need to be peer pressured to do anything you aren’t comfortable with.
  2. Being trendy doesn’t count for much and instead, it is  feeling confident in whatever you wore that mattered.
  3. How important it is to stand up for people you love.
  4. To do what scares you. If you think you wrote a great story, stand up and read it in class! You’ll never know unless you try it.
  5. Don’t ghost. Remember that friend you’ve drifted apart from? Don’t blow her off, instead ask her what’s going on with you two from her perspective. Confrontation is what will get you through Senior School.
  6. Saving Journals. Just look back on how you saw the world at 12, and I bet you’ll have a day full of laughter.
  7. Significant others will always come in time. Right now it might seem like everyone you know is having the time of their lives with their best friend and that your life would improve if a best friend was by your side. But take it from me- Concentrate on good friendships first, if a closer relationship comes out of it, great and even if it doesn’t, then connections that will last won’t make you regret anything.
  8. You’re going to change so much, you might as well accept it now. You might be thinking that who you are now is who you will always be. But the world is ever changing and you’re going to grow for better. So, go with it!
  9. You don’t have to always fit in. Let individuality take the wheel.
  10. Don’t tolerate white lies and don’t tell white lies. The more you get caught up in lies and made-up stories, the more difficult it will be to survive in school. 
  11. Go (slightly) nuts! This is your opportunity in life to be slightly stupid, to be the life of the party. Because it turns out being slightly nuts in board classes isn’t as socially acceptable.
  12. For the love of everything, please stop making a puff. You’ll realise this when you look back at your pictures and cry for 5 days straight. Also hair straight down or pulled back is a hundred times better.
  13. You create the definition of happiness. Not your fake friends. Not your classmates and not even the society.