14 DAY TRIAL // A new research found that pregnant teenagers are not aware of life's harsh reality and see motherhood in unrealistic, idealistic terms. Most of the young - maybe too young - future mothers view pregnancy and following periods of their lives as an opportunity to socially connect with the others and also to build up a stronger, steadier relationship with their boyfriends.
However, they fail to think about how life would be like if they did not have any money to sustain their living or if the young fathers of their unborn babies were gone one day and never came back. These and other side consequences of carrying a child when too young and immature are not taken into account by happy pregnant teenagers.
Study author Cynthia Rosengard, researcher in internal medicine at Rhode Island Hospital and assistant professor of medicine at Brown Medical School in Providence noted: "The youngest girls were less likely to identify themselves as being unprepared. Because they're not cognitively at the level of understanding the realities of parenting, our prevention messages need to be as salient as possible."
The study involved 247 pregnant teenagers aged between 12 and 19, who were questioned about how they see parenting life and their future. About one in four pregnancy cases of teenagers in the study has been intended.
Most of the teen future mothers said that having a baby of your own is a great chance to enhance relationships with the others, especially with their boyfriend. Besides this motivation, young girls also said that having a baby earlier in life will give them the opportunity to be friends with their offsprings, as mother and child will be very close of age.
Giving birth to a baby as sooner as possible was seen by pregnant girls as something extraordinary, as this is going to make them more aware of reality, will teach them how to deal with life's problems and burdens and will turn them into full grown-ups earlier. "I think it will keep me away from doing bad things like drinking alcohol and/or doing drugs. It will make me more responsible, and I'll learn how to depend on myself more," an 18-year-old girl stated.
The author of the study due to appear in the Pediatrics journal concluded: "Clearly, understanding adolescents' attitudes toward and motivations for pregnancy may aid in efforts to educate adolescents regarding the realities of teen pregnancy/parenting and reduce the negative health consequences of teenage childbearing in the United States."