What Is Teen Pregnancy?
Teenage pregnancy is pregnancy in a female under the age of 20 (when the pregnancy ends). A pregnancy can take place before menarche (the first menstrual period), which signals the possibility of fertility, but usually occurs after menarche. In healthy, well-nourished girls, menarche normally takes place around the ages 12 or 13. Whether the onset of biological fertility will result in a teenage pregnancy depends on a number of personal and societal factors. Teenage pregnancy rates vary between countries because of differences in levels of sexual activity, marriage among teenagers, general sex education provided and access to affordable contraceptive options.
Socioeconomic Factors
Teenage pregnancy has been defined predominantly within the research field and among social agencies as a social problem. Poverty is associated with increased rates of teenage pregnancy. Economically poor countries such as Niger and Bangladesh have far more teenage mothers compared with economically rich countries such as Switzerland and Japan.
Teenage motherhood may actually make economic sense for young women with less money, some research suggests. For instance, long-term studies by Duke economist V. Joseph Hotz and colleagues, published in 2005, found that by age 35, former teen moms had earned more in income, paid more in taxes, were substantially less likely to live in poverty and collected less in public assistance than similarly poor women who waited until their 20s to have babies. Women who became mothers in their teens, freed from child-raising duties by their late 20s and early 30s to pursue employment while poorer women who waited to become moms were still stuck at home watching their young children, wound up paying more in taxes than they had collected in welfare. Eight years earlier, the federally commissioned report “Kids Having Kids” also contained a similar finding, though it was buried: “Adolescent childbearers fare slightly better than
later-childbearing counterparts in terms of their overall economic welfare.
Benefits Available for pregnant teenagers
Benefits available for pregnant teenagers and mothers under 16 depend on different things, such as, how old you are and whether you live with your parents or not.
If you are under 16 and living with parents
During pregnancy
If you are of compulsory school age (i.e. beginning of June following your 16th birthday) your local education authority must provide education for you, either at your usual school or somewhere else.
No benefits are available for you to claim, but if you are still with parents or carers they can continue to get Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits for you if applicable.
After the birth
Once your baby is born either you or your parents can claim Child Benefit. You will not be able to claim Income Support as a lone parent until you are 16 but your parents will be able to get extra Child Tax Credit for your baby. If they get Child Tax Credits of more than the family element, they can claim the £500.00 Sure Start Maternity Grant for your baby providing you are under 20 years and have no other children.
Once you reach 16 the situation will change.
If you are under 16 and living apart from parents
During pregnancy
Because you are under 16 you cannot claim benefits for yourself. If you live away from your parents or guardians, social services are responsible for you.
After the birth
Once your baby is born and you reach 16 years of age you can claim child benefit. Once you reach 16 you will be able to claim child tax credits and possibly Income Support as a lone parent.
If you are under 16 and living with your boyfriend
Your partner cannot claim extra money for you while you are pregnant unless he is over 16 and claims for you as his dependent child. After the birth he can claim for Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit for your baby. He may also be able to get Housing Benefit and Income Support as a lone parent if he is not working.
Under these circumstances he may also be eligible to claim the Sure Start Maternity Grant.
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