Round and Round it Goes: Will the Cycle Ever End? Today, teenage pregnancy seems to be glorified in shows like 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, and the movie Juno, just to mention a few. These shows do not always correctly portray how difficult teenage girls can have it when they have children at such a young age. Not to mention the fact that even though the show allows the audience a “glimpse” into the girls’ lives, the girls still get paid for being on the show which offers them support that other adolescent mothers do not have, and even though some of the girls do give their children up for adoption as Juno did in the movie, the fact still remains that adoption may not be an option for other girls and that these shows and the movie glorified
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It has been proven that many children with teenage mothers maintain the cycle and become teenage mothers themselves living in poverty with their own children because that is what they have been exposed to with little else to see as a positive example. This absence of a positive role model and these teens’ desires to be loved cause them to seek love and companionship in other places, mainly through sex (“Children Having” 3). Now obviously this is not the case for every teenage pregnancy but it is a very common thread that can be overlooked quite often. Although I mentioned that these current television shows and movies have glorified teenage pregnancy, this is not a new issue. Researchers have been proving that poverty and teenage pregnancy go hand in hand for years despite its significant decline recorded in 1991, and even though there have been programs to help these young ladies, the cycle still persists (“Vital Signs” 1). Adolescents who live in poverty are more likely to bear children early in life, and they will continue the cycle of poverty because of low educational achievement, government assistance reliance, and low income …show more content…
Many of these mothers come to depend on welfare and other government assistance through the course of their lifetimes. In fact, many teen mothers who came from welfare dependent homes are excessively more likely to become welfare dependent on their own (Leadbeater and Way 72). Now that is not to say that these mothers do not work, at least part time, when they apply for government assistance because, for many, welfare alone is not enough and they have to work to make sure they have all of their necessities (71). The main program that these mothers come to depend on for help is Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The relationship between teenage pregnancy and welfare has been well noted and the cause of welfare reform around the turn of the century. This relationship is shown through statistics on adolescent dependence on welfare in 1997, in which 42%-55% of households with aid from AFDC are headed by women who started having children as teenagers. Not only that but 70% of unwed, teenage mothers will receive assistance within the first five years of having their child and 40% of these mothers will continue to rely on the welfare system for another five years or longer. To get an idea of how much these families are given, in March of 1997, approximately $8.6 million dollars was spent on families
It has been proven that many children with teenage mothers maintain the cycle and become teenage mothers themselves living in poverty with their own children because that is what they have been exposed to with little else to see as a positive example. This absence of a positive role model and these teens’ desires to be loved cause them to seek love and companionship in other places, mainly through sex (“Children Having” 3). Now obviously this is not the case for every teenage pregnancy but it is a very common thread that can be overlooked quite often. Although I mentioned that these current television shows and movies have glorified teenage pregnancy, this is not a new issue. Researchers have been proving that poverty and teenage pregnancy go hand in hand for years despite its significant decline recorded in 1991, and even though there have been programs to help these young ladies, the cycle still persists (“Vital Signs” 1). Adolescents who live in poverty are more likely to bear children early in life, and they will continue the cycle of poverty because of low educational achievement, government assistance reliance, and low income …show more content…
Many of these mothers come to depend on welfare and other government assistance through the course of their lifetimes. In fact, many teen mothers who came from welfare dependent homes are excessively more likely to become welfare dependent on their own (Leadbeater and Way 72). Now that is not to say that these mothers do not work, at least part time, when they apply for government assistance because, for many, welfare alone is not enough and they have to work to make sure they have all of their necessities (71). The main program that these mothers come to depend on for help is Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The relationship between teenage pregnancy and welfare has been well noted and the cause of welfare reform around the turn of the century. This relationship is shown through statistics on adolescent dependence on welfare in 1997, in which 42%-55% of households with aid from AFDC are headed by women who started having children as teenagers. Not only that but 70% of unwed, teenage mothers will receive assistance within the first five years of having their child and 40% of these mothers will continue to rely on the welfare system for another five years or longer. To get an idea of how much these families are given, in March of 1997, approximately $8.6 million dollars was spent on families