Megan K. Scott
Associated Press
Jun. 30 2008 12:00 am
News that 17 girls at a Massachusetts high school became pregnant this year is raising questions about whether pregnancy has become something alluring to teens.
Many teen pregnancies still take place against a backdrop of economic distress or a search for love, experts say - and that's been the case for years.
But counselors say they now are also concerned about a combination of factors that may make it easier for teens to become sexually active without fully understanding the potential consequences: Glamour shots of pregnant celebs are featured in magazines and on TV alongside increasingly sexualized fashions and images of younger girls.
Nationwide, the teen birth rate rose 3 percent from 2005 to 2006, the most recent year with data available, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was the first increase recorded since 1991.
While there have always been celebrities who had babies, today's teen girls absorb coverage of their favorite actresses and singers voraciously: A report issued by Experian Consumer Research found that that 23 percent of teen girls surveyed in 2004 had read Us Weekly in the last six months, compared with 6 percent in 2000, for example.
Front and center in those celebrity magazines: babies and their fashionable mamas.
Carol Weston, who writes an advice column for Girls' Life magazine, says the glamorous images of pregnant celebrities can inspire young girls to become mothers. Teens get the idea that pregnancy is fun, says Weston.
Kimberly Hughes, a 16-year-old from Glen Rock, N.J., who reads Us Weekly, People and CosmoGirl, agrees.
"I like reading the stories. It's really interesting seeing the lives of celebrities," she said. "It seems to be so easy for them, but in reality, it's not like that for them at all."
Baby pictures in particular send a certain message, she says. "It's like, 'Look at what you can do if you have a baby. Look at these cool perks you get out of it.' "
Movies also influence teens, Weston said. After Juno, an Oscar-winning 2007 movie about a regular high-school student who becomes pregnant, came out, Weston received lots of letters from teens who wanted to have babies, she said.
Weston said girls may not realize that most stories don't end like Juno's, who found a beautiful, rich woman to take care of her baby and still kept her boyfriend.
"It's not that pretty, especially if you have no degree, no job and no mate," she says.
Tierra Townsend, 18, of Tampa, who has a 1-year-old son, says there's no glamour to being a teen mom. The baby's father is no longer part of her or his son's life. She never finished high school and is working at McDonald's.
"I would say to any young female who is trying to have a child at a young age, 'Don't,' " she says. "Stay in school, get a good education, save kids until later when you are married."
Talking to teens
With a lot of attention on teen pregnancy these days, parents can use the news to talk about sex and pregnancy with their children:
Here are tips from experts:
• Have age-appropriate discussions about sex. Answer their questions openly and honestly.
• Talk about teen pregnancy. Ask your kids what they think about Juno and Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy, says Bill Albert, spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
• Make sure your teen knows you are there for her. Say something along the lines of "I love you, and I really hope you'll wait until you get married or at least are older and more responsible. If you think about it, please come to me," says Nicole Karjane, an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Medicine.
• If your teen says she wants to have a baby, ask her why. Then you can get a sense of what she is missing - love, attention, career goals, says Ellen deLara, assistant professor in the School of Social Work at Syracuse.
• Talk about how hard it is to raise a family. Tell her about the huge responsibility that comes with being a parent, Karjane says.
• Have her talk to other teen moms, who can share their experiences about how hard it is, Karjane says.
• Connect with a religious institution, whether a synagogue or a church, deLara says. That may give teens hope that their future is bright.
