Chapter 1 (new).docx

Perceptions of Students on the Best Ways to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy

Jerica V. Tampoy Princess D. Sarania Jeneveve Perucho April Ann Albaracin

Submitted in the Fulfillment of the Requirements for Inquiries, Investigation and Immersion General Academic Strand 1

Mariano Peralta National High School Malita Davao Occidental March 2019

CHAPTER I Problem and Its Background

This chapter will include the introduction, statement of the problem, scope and limitation and significance of the study.

Introduction Teenage pregnancy is pregnancy in a woman 19 years of age or younger. A woman can get pregnant if she has vaginal sex with a man at any age after she’s begun having regular monthly periods (Carey, E., Schulman, J.) Teenage Pregnancy is huge issue all around the world. Teens from the ages of 12-19 are having sex and most of them aren't realizing the full consequences of intercourse without contraception and birth control. The victims of teenage pregnancy are the girl herself, her child, her parents and relatives and the national society as a whole. It will also probably make her economically vulnerable. It is a communal problem, a family problem and a personal problem that is put together as one, according to Weebly. Adolescent teen mothers usually come from a low income or poor family. About 83% of teen moms who give birth are from a low-income household (Klein, 2005).

Teen moms do not realize that their bodies aren't fully developed to carry children and that they are not fully mature enough to become a parent. Also, teen mothers are most likely to drop out of high school and then will not ever get the chance to see how the rest of their high school years, graduation, and college experiences would be. Teenage mothers have no time for other things, because they are busy taking care of their baby. Most teen mothers end up dropping out of high school, because they do not have time for school anymore. They work for low wages to make money and support the child. Teenage mothers are also more likely to depend on public assistance and are more likely to live in poverty which is not ideal because it can put their children at risk of poor health which proves that teenage pregnancy can disrupt young people’s career and educational goals that will soon affect the finances of their future families. Teen pregnancy continues to be a problem for families, educators, health care professionals, and the government. It is considered as one of the major problems that the government is facing today. According to Government statistics records, teen pregnancy cases rise up to 70% over 10 years only. In 2013, the Philippines had ranked number three (3) with the greatest number of teenage pregnancy cases, and is the only nation wherein the rate is increasing among the South East Asian Sectors.

According to UKEssays, it is clearly an issue and should be pronounced as an issue. There should be more methods of prevention taken so that teens get a clear view of what their life would be like as a teen parent. This study will help the teenagers to be aware of what teenage pregnancy is. They will learn about the ways on how they can prevent themselves from being involved into this issue and how they can control themselves from having sexual intercourse at a young age. In this study, we tend to gain insights into the perceptions of students on the best ways to prevent teenage pregnancy. In order to determine the best ways to prevent teenage pregnancy, we will identify first the factors that results to teenage pregnancy. The factors that results to Teenage Pregnancy includes, lack of knowledge about sex and how to use contraceptives, peer pressure, exploitation to older men, sexual coercion, lack of parental guidance, poverty, and fascination of teenagers to alcoholic drinks which will make them drunk that can make them sexually active.

Statement of the Problem Teenage pregnancy had been a worldwide issue. Campaigns and awareness to lessen its occurrence had also been raised. Teenage pregnancy has emerged to be one of the major public health problems in South Asia (Raj et al., 2010) and in Western Europe (Seamarck, 2001). In a study conducted by the National Demographic and Health Survey in 2013, one out of every young Filipino women age 15 to 19 is already a mother or pregnant with a first child, and this phenomenon is increasing each year, therefore, the government should exert effort in resolving the issue (Salvador, J. et al., 2016). Teenage pregnancy is widespread in the Philippines, especially amongst the poor. It is a story that may not be too pleasant, but one that is repeated all too often. Teen pregnancy is an obvious rising issue in our society (Sabado, T., 2019). Some 16.5 million Filipinos belong to the 15-24-year-old age group. We are forced with a glaring truth that at a very young age, a lot of young people today have children of their own. 30% of all births belong to this age group; and by the age of 20, 25% of the youth are already mothers. This shocking truth about teenage pregnancy in the Philippines should wake the government and parents themselves to take action (Flores, 2008).

In this study, we will be suggesting best ways to prevent teenage pregnancy and find out how the teenagers or the respondents would perceive the suggestions that we will give. This study will focus on the perception of students on the best ways to prevent teenage pregnancy. It aims to answer the following question: 1.) How do teenagers/students perceive the best ways to prevent teenage pregnancy?

Scope and Limitation This study will be limited to the Teenagers of Davao Occidental, who are already grade 12 studying at Mariano Peralta National High School. We will be finding 126 randomly selected teenagers or students from the academic track of the Senior High School of Mariano Peralta National High School to become the participants to answer the survey questions.

Significance of the Study This study will help in controlling the escalating rate of teenage pregnancy by the suggestion that we will give about the best ways to prevent teenage pregnancy. Parents will also get benefits as they will know what they could do to guide their children from this phenomenon. This will also help the government in making decisions or campaigns to lessen the said issue. Students or teenagers, themselves, would also benefit from this. This research will also help future researchers who want to study the same topic as a guide for their research papers.