Aboriginal Teenage Pregnancy

SOCIAL COMPLEXITIES AND HEALTH 1
Aboriginal Teenage Pregnancy
Name
Course
Professor’s Name
Institutional
Date

SOCIAL COMPLEXITIES AND HEALTH 2
Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................3
Adolescent Pregnancy in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People..........3
Teenage Pregnancies in Relation to the Social Determinants of Health..........................4
Teenage Pregnancy Intervention Program.......................................................................7
Critique...............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................9
References.......................................................................................................................10

SOCIAL COMPLEXITIES AND HEALTH 3
Aboriginal Teenage Pregnancies
Introduction
Globally, teenage pregnancy is a common issue faced by most nations with
statistics showing that every year approximately one million teenage girls get pregnant.
Therefore teenage pregnancy or adolescent pregnancy can be described as pregnancy
in girls aged between 13 and 19. Sometimes these adolescent pregnancies are planned
with the teens intentionally engaging in sex to get pregnant; however other times they
are unplanned with statistics showing that approximately 84% of teenage pregnancies
are unplanned. The good news is that the number of teenagers getting pregnant is
lowering especially thanks to efforts by Governments across the world. However, there
are disparities when it comes to comparisons between Aboriginal People around the
globe and the non-indigenous people since the rate at which the numbers are lowering
is slower in comparison (Cherry and Dillon, 2014). Hence this essay will take a look at
the teenage pregnancies among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in
Australia, how social determinants of health influence teenage pregnancy among this
community what interventions are in place to prevent this and critique the intervention.
Adolescent Pregnancy in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
In Australia, statistics show that the rate of teenage pregnancies has been going
down. Although this is happening, the rate at which adolescent pregnancy numbers in
the Aboriginal population is slow and the number of teenage pregnancy is high as
compared to the non-indigenous population in Australia. The adolescent pregnancies
are mostly unplanned, and they result in different consequences especially for teenage
mothers to be. One consequence is dropping out of school due to pregnancy. Since

SOCIAL COMPLEXITIES AND HEALTH 4
most of the girls feel ashamed or feel that it is a nuisance to go to class while pregnant
they opt to drop out of school so that they cannot feel embarrassed or be bullied in
school (Marino, Lewis, Bateson, Hickey and Skinner, 2016, pp. 712).
Another consequence is that pregnant teenagers are more at risk of developing
complications during their pregnancies since their bodies are not entirely ready for the
pregnancy. Some of the complications include anemia, high blood pressure, low birth
weight, premature births, higher rates of infant mortality and increased risk of
cephalopelvic disproportion which means the pelvic bones of the mother are smaller
than the bay’s head which makes it difficult for the birth. All of these complications
present a danger to the lives of both the mother and the child (Skinner et al., 2009, pp.
52). The final consequence of teen pregnancy is that so that they can deal with the
reality of being pregnant early which affects their mental health most of them resort to
some risky behaviors to cope. Some of the behaviors include drug abuse, cigarette
smoking and alcohol consumption which all affect the health status of the mother and
child. Statistics show that these practices are more common among pregnant
aboriginal teenagers as compared to the non-indigenous population (Lewis, Hickey,
Doherty. and Skinner, 2009, pp. 539).
Teenage Pregnancies in Relation to the Social Determinants of Health
Teenage pregnancies among aboriginal Australians can be attributed to various
reasons, and some of them are the social determinants of health. Social determinants of
health (SDOH) are described as the circumstances which an individual is born in, lives,
works or their environment which all come together to influence their health status
(Jeha, Usta, Ghulmiyyah and Nassar, 2015, pp. 6). The first SDOH is education; the