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  • Title: Poverty, welfare and single teenage mothers: a primary health care concern.
    Author: Fahy K.
    Journal: Aust Coll Midwives Inc J; 1995 Mar; 8(1):19-23. PubMed ID: 7619013.
    Abstract:
    This paper draws upon the international literature to support the thesis that poverty is more the cause, then the effect, of single teenage childbearing. The paper demonstrates that the rate of single teenage births has dramatically declined over the past twenty years while the level of government support for sole parents has significantly increased over the same period (an example of current rates of payment is included). The author asserts that there is no direct relationship between the level of welfare support and the incidence of adolescent childbearing. Midwives who function as primary health care providers should be aware of the socio-political environment as it affects disadvantaged young women. In Australia, the rate of births to adolescents dropped from 55.2/1000 in 1971 to 22/1000 in 1990, but the number of births to unmarried adolescents increased from 35% on 1971 to 78% in 1989. The decreased rate of births has mirrored a decrease in the UK but has not been achieved in the US. The factors associated with adolescent childbearing include early initiation of sexual activity, sexual abuse as a child, access to free and confidential family planning services, abortion, poverty, and educational attainment. Poverty is the single best predictor of adolescent pregnancy. In Sweden, for example, the lack of poverty has led to a virtual end to pregnancy under age 18. The alternative life course theory proposed to explain the willingness of Black adolescents to become mothers posits that a kinship network exists to provide child care so that the mothers can continue their education. Such a theory may apply in Australia only in the aboriginal community. Girls faced with few prospects of employment may also choose motherhood to attain status. Adolescents with poor academic achievement are three times more likely to become parents. 20% of girls with low achievement who live in poverty will become mothers versus 4% of girls with average academic records who also live in poverty. Despite common beliefs, the existence of welfare programs does not encourage adolescent childbearing. In Australia, public assistance allows single adolescent mothers to live above the poverty line, but, in the UK and US, benefits have been decreased and requirements increased. Adolescent pregnancy will not be eliminated by reducing welfare entitlements. Instead, the elimination of unemployment and poverty will offer young women lives which include hopes for the future that would be jeopardized by an early pregnancy. Midwives must be prepared to act as advocates for young mothers if policy changes are recommended which would place young mothers at a disadvantage.
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