He Pregnancy in adolescence Or at an early age requires a comprehensive intervention, which leaves aside the traditional approach that looks at pregnancy only as a risk to the physical health of the adolescent and the baby.
Adolescence was considered for a long time only as a transition between childhood and adulthood, without devoting greater interest to the profound biological, psychological, social and emotional changes that make this stage an instance that requires us to turn our attention.
In this article I will explain the 5 Main consequences of pregnancy in adolescence Or at an early age.
Biological, psychological and social maturity has evolved, progressively separating over the years. Biologically, there has been a marked decrease in the age of menarche or first menstruation, which has allowed a teenager to be a mother at ages as early as 11 years.
Psychosocial maturity, on the other hand, has tended to move towards the third decade of life, taking into account the complex preparation by which an adolescent goes to reach the limits of physical development and act autonomously in his affective, social relations And labor.
In recent years there has been an increase and a greater precocity of the onset of youth sexual activity, causing an increase in the incidence of adolescent pregnancy, currently considered a risk factor not only from the medical aspect, but also psychological and social.
Pregnancy breaks into adolescents' lives at a time when they are not yet physically and mentally mature, sometimes in adverse circumstances, in the midst of nutritional deficiencies or other illnesses, and in an unfamiliar family environment to accept and protect it.
In general, when figures are given on adolescent pregnancy, information is used on children born alive to mothers under the age of 20. These statistics on pregnant women are no longer significant if we consider that only include pregnancies that come to term and the child born alive.
Pregnancies that do not come to term for medical reasons or as a result of an abortion are not usually established in statistics, therefore, it leaves aside the emotional and psychological components that can affect the adolescent product of this.
In addition, the traditional approach looks at adolescent pregnancy alone as a risk to the physical health of the expectant mother. These points of view are insufficient to address the current reality of the problem: the psychosocial risks associated with consequences that irremediably affect the pregnant teenager and her socio-cultural environment, which may compromise the enjoyment of a dignified life and make her deeply unhappy.
Nowadays, the pregnancy Adolescent requires a comprehensive intervention, that leaves aside the traditional approach that looks at the pregnancy only as a risk for the physical health of the adolescent and the baby, and that addresses the situation involving psychological, emotional, family and social aspects not only linked To the future mother, but also to its immediate environment and the new human being that is brewing.
In this context, the studies speak of a number of possible Psycho-emotional consequences By which the adolescents pass against an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy:
1-Impairment in psychological health
The emotional health of the pregnant adolescent can be affected considerably, since pregnancy is usually assumed in difficult conditions and away from a truly free and responsible choice:
- Deprivation affective and mistreatment on the part of his family (thus the pregnancy becomes an option to have someone who wants them)
-Stress, anxiety .
- Fruit of a rape or incest
- Pressure from your partner
- Leave it to chance to be pregnant or not
- Leave in your partner the decision to use or not a contraceptive method
These possibilities and others, coupled with the difficulty of adapting to a new situation for which you do not feel prepared, may end up affecting your psychological health.
The support of your partner, your family and society is crucial for the emotional impact to be minimal.
2-Leave the studies
Both early pregnancy and motherhood limit or impede opportunities to continue their education, and they undermine the expectations of the new mother and her family for the future.
At times there may be an environment of deprivation and low family support, which has a double consequence: on the one hand, the adolescent with less family support has a greater risk of becoming pregnant, and on the other hand, the adolescent mother has fewer possibilities Of reaching a high level of schooling.
3-Difficulties in the professional field
The economic commitment of early pregnancy for the subsistence of the adolescent herself and that of her sons or daughters; Since the possibility of working for a pregnant teenager or for which she was already a mother is very low.
In this regard we must also include discriminatory practices that still exist against women in the labor market. Consequently, this leads the adolescent mother to assume a continuous situation of dependence.
Sometimes, this situation is aggravated if you live with your partner, also unemployed, in the home of the family of origin of any of them, and may trigger situations of tension, and even of mistreatment and domestic violence.
4-Difficulties in social / couple relationships
Without their own income, with little education and little chance of obtaining them, social and personal opportunities are significantly limited for the adolescent mother.
This leads them to have little chance of satisfying the needs of their children and of fighting for their rights in their relationship of couple or family and against the State, reducing their opportunities for personal and social development.
On the other hand, Partner issues or Even breaks .
5-Sudden changes in the life plan
Many times, the life project of the pregnant teenager is truncated or interrupted.
Juvenile pregnancy tends to take the young mother out of her environment: they lose their partner or their family if there is rejection on the part of one or both, they lose their peer group at school, change their recreation spaces and their presence in community. The life process is suddenly altered, becoming a hostile fact.
Although we admit that many adolescents do not have a definite life project when they become pregnant, this unplanned or desired pregnancy limits the construction of this vital project.
CONCLUSIONS
Faced with this, timely consideration of the factors we have mentioned becomes so necessary as the need to facilitate access to information and care in responsible sexual and reproductive health.
It is also about acting on the economic, political and cultural conditions surrounding adolescent pregnancy and eliminating the barriers that psychosocially affect many adolescents who experience all this without full awareness of the magnitude of what they face, and even accept it as Factors inherent in the status of being a woman.
And what consequences have you observed of pregnancy in adolescence or at an early age?