Title: Dubious conceptions: the politics of teenage pregnancy.

POPLINE Document Number: 119863

Author(s):

Luker K

Source citation:

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1996. [7], 283 p.

Abstract:

This book on teenage pregnancy in the US opens by introducing the reader to David, the toddler son of an unmarried, White, teenage mother. The situation in which David and his mother Michelle find themselves is used to paint a human face on the problem of teenage pregnancy. This chapter also introduces the themes that will be developed in the remainder of the book and notes that teenagers get pregnant and continue their pregnancies because adult conventional wisdom fails to coincide with the demographic, socioeconomic, and sexual reality of their world. Chapter 2 provides an historical context for this discussion by exploring the themes of bastardy, fitness for procreation (age, marital status, mental health, and education/income levels), and the invention of adolescence. Chapter 3 considers the issues of poverty, fertility, and the state through a look at 19th-century bans on contraception and abortion, the "war on poverty" of the 1960s, the increase in numbers of teenagers at risk of unwanted pregnancy during the 1970s, arguments surrounding the provision of contraception to teenagers, the official emergence of adolescent pregnancy as a social problem in 1975, and the conservative reaction. Chapter 4 deals with the myths created to construct the perception of an adolescent pregnancy epidemic. Chapter 5 covers the topics of who becomes a teenage mother; the consequences of teenage pregnancy on health, education, and economic well-being; and how the children of these mothers fare. The question of why approximately 1 million US teenagers get pregnant and half a million have babies each year is explored in the next chapter by contrasting dreams and realities; tracing the path to pregnancy; and exploring the options of abortion, marriage, and adoption. The final chapter considers public policies that could reduce the incidence of adolescent pregnancy and help young mothers move out of the cycle of poverty.

Keywords:

United States
Critique
Literature Review
Qualitative Evaluation
Adolescents
Adolescent Pregnancy
Political Factors
Illegitimacy
Poverty
Decision Making
Abortion
Adoption
North America
Americas
Developed Countries
Evaluation
Youth
Age Factors
Population Characteristics
Demographic Factors
Population
Reproductive Behavior
Fertility
Population Dynamics
Social Problems
Socioeconomic Factors
Economic Factors
Behavior
Fertility Control, Postconception
Family Planning
Child Rearing