TPC-Journal-V1-Issue1

30 The Professional Counselor \ Volume 1, Issue 1 while almost 60% of the expenditures for another federal program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) go to single mothers who had their first child while a teenager (Dorrell, 1994). One cost benefit analysis suggests the government could increase spending on teen pregnancy prevention to eight times the current amount and still break even (Sawhill, 2001, 2007). Although these figures are significant, the social-emotional burden is even more alarming. Without proper preparation to learn the skills needed for the challenges of childrearing, parents are highly likely to default to inappropriate coping mechanisms, such as violent behaviors. In the United States, 8,042 children are reported abused or neglected every day, more than 3.25 million annually; nearly four children die each day as a result of child abuse or neglect (Hopper, 2005; Massey, 1998). Education is an essential part of the foundation of our society; a violent or abusive environment undermines a student’s ability to learn and the damage is not easily repaired (Prothrow-Stith & Quaday, 1995; Swick & Williams, 2006). Clearly, the ongoing, multifaceted cost to society is difficult to calculate. Although decline in teen pregnancy and birth rates recently exists (Flanigan, 2001), the United States still has the highest rates of teen pregnancy, teen births, and teen abortion in the fully industrialized world. There are nearly half a million teen births annually; each hour nearly 100 teen girls become pregnant and 55 give birth (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2002; Ventura, Mathews, & Hamilton, 2002). Four in ten young women become pregnant at least once before age 20 and nearly 40% of these are age 17 or younger (NCPTP, 2002). The NCPTP (2005) reports 35% of teen girls become pregnant at least once as a teen—850,000 annually. Moreover, more teens are sexually active earlier. In a recent study (see Pearson, Muller, & Frisco, 2006; Terry & Manlove, 2000), 8.3% of students report having sex before age 13, a 15% increase since 1997. There was a 3% increase in teen pregnancy rates between 2005 and 2006 (NCPTP, 2011). If current fertility rates remain constant, the number of pregnancies and births among teenagers will increase 26% by 2010 (NCPTP, 2002). Collectively, the effects of teenage parenting have become a national crisis. Research, as well as politicians and national, state, and local initiatives and campaigns have embraced some aspect of the teen pregnancy agenda. In his 1995 State of the Union address, former President Bill Clinton declared teen pregnancy the most serious social problem facing the country. Adolescent pregnancy continues to be a cycle of dependency and poverty. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce children of unmarried teenage mothers experience long-term abject poverty four times as often as children from other families (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1990) and two-thirds of families begun by young unmarried mothers are poor (NCPTP, 2002). Recent research found that unmarried teen mothers had a 43% lower income-to-need ratio, were 2.8 times more likely to be poor and 1.4 times more likely to receive government welfare benefits than were non-teen mothers or married teen mothers (Bissell, 2000). The NCPTP (2005) reports that 52% of all mothers on welfare had their first child as a teenager, and teen mothers are twice as likely to become dependent on welfare than their counterparts— nearly 80% of unmarried teen mothers are on welfare (Dorrell,1994). Unremitting poverty is not the only issue of teenage parenthood; education and employment are affected as well. Less than 4 of 10 teen mothers who have a child before age 18 ever complete high school (Hotz, McElroy, & Sanders, 1997, 2005), with school dropouts six times more likely to become unmarried parents than their graduated counterparts (Dorrell, 1994). Moreover, about one-fourth of teenage mothers have a second child within 24 months of the first birth, which can further impede their ability to finish school, obtain or maintain a job, or escape poverty (Kalmuss & Namerow, 1994; Raneri & Wiemann, 2007). Without a high school diploma, the economic outlook is bleak: according to the 2003 U.S. Census Bureau, the median income for college graduates increased 13% in the past 25 years, while median income for high school dropouts decreased 30%. Teen mothers are more likely to work at low-paying jobs, experience longer periods of unemployment, receive welfare benefits, experience single parenthood, and live in high poverty compared to mothers who do not have a child in their teen years (Bissell, 2000). Even if a teen parent finishes high school, earnings are nearly 20% less annually than that of those completing some college courses, and at least 75% less annually than those who complete a bachelor’s degree—almost $1 million less in lifetime earnings (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). The Cycle Continues If more children were born to parents who are ready and able to care for them, there would be a significant reduction in the social problems afflicting children—from school failure and crime to child abuse, neglect and poverty (NCPTP, 2002). The outcome for many children of teen parents is grim: children of teen mothers are 50% more likely to repeat a grade,