fn studies teen pregnancy

8/3/2019 FN Studies Teen Pregnancy

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Teen Pregnancy Among Canadian Aboriginal Youth: Prevalence, Outcomes

and Solutions

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Teen Pregnancy Among Canadian Aboriginal Youth: Prevalence, Outcomes and

Solutions

Candice Lee Bennett

FNST 101

15 November 2011

JOYCE SCHNEIDER

PHD EDST Student (UBC)


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Abstract

This paper discusses prevalence, outcomes and solutions to teen pregnancy among Aboriginal

Youth. It will discuss the rates of aboriginals compared to non-aboriginals, and take a historicalperspective on the legacy of colonization affect on intergenerational parenting.

Keywords:pregnancy in adolescence, pregnancy outcome, and socio-economic disadvantagesunemployment, pre-natal and post-natal health.


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Teen Pregnancy Among Canadian Aboriginal Youths: Prevalence, Outcomes and

Solutions

The purpose of this paper is to understand the prevalence of teen pregnancy among

Canadian Aboriginal youth, to understand the socioeconomic disadvantages of teen pregnancy

and the strategies to address these issues. The teen pregnancy rate among Canadian Aboriginals

living on reservations is more than twice the Canadian average of non-Aboriginals with the

largest rate recorded for young Native females below the age of twenty. First Nations Health

Chiefs Health Committee report teen pregnancy as one of the major problems in theyre in both

rural and urban communities (2004, p. 7). The decades long campaign of assimilation whether by

residential schools or foster care resulted in generations of Aboriginals who had lost a connection

to their parents, role models, community, and self-identity. These factors led to socioeconomic

disadvantages such as high unemployment rate, reduced education, and poverty, among many

other negative factors which in turn led to an increase in the number of mental and physical

disorders such as depression, and alcohol and substance abuse. Within the last decade, several

reports from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and other Provincial Health Officers

Report have outlined possible positive solutions for the recovery of the Aboriginal communities,

which will hopefully reverse the high teen pregnancy rates.

In Pathways to Health and Healing People in British Columbia reports the rate per one

hundred live births was five times higher for aboriginal teens under twenty (British Columbia

2007. p. 75) If teen pregnancy has such negative outcomes for mother and child, then why do

aboriginal mothers have such a gap between themselves and non-native teen mothers. (Kearny.

M, 2007, pg.181.). The reasons for the high prevalence of early childrearing among Aboriginal

youth can be traced back to colonization.


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It is a known fact that the generations of First Nations people have been affected by the

Residential School experience, assimilation, and paternalistic assumption by social services to

protect our children regardless of the cost. Although Canada has relatively low rates of teen

pregnancy, among the Aboriginal population most of the population is under twenty-five.

In the US and Canada there is a growing acceptance of teen pregnancy as seen by celebrity teen

moms like Jamie Lynn Spears who at sixteen with a successful career shocked the world with her

unplanned pregnancy. Statistic must also look at the barriers a young mother must face at trying

to access Health Services in remote and urban areas to receive culturally sensitive health service

pre-natal and postnatal (Luong, M, 2008 P. 40) In addition you must take into account young

women who may have gotten pregnant by accident choice or coercion that must over come

numerous barriers to health care for themselves and their babies that result in negative outcomes

for mother and child.

The social determinants of health disadvantages for teen mothers focus on different aspect of

negative outcomes medically for mother and child, socioeconomic factors that factor on the long-

term wellness of mother and child (Kearny, M 2009). Teen mothers are high-risk for serious

pregnancy complications Placenta previa, Pregnancy-induced hypertension, premature delivery,

significant anemia, and toxemia. Children born from teen mothers generally have a lower birth

rate and do weaker performance in school. In addition the socio-economic disadvantage include

lack of education to allow access to a skilled workforce that in turn results in poorer outcome for

both child in mother long-term financial independence. This begs the question if aboriginal

youth had a positive belief that higher education would result in a higher income, a good job, a


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way to support themselves with out relying on social service would this reduce the prevalence of

teen pregnancy in our communities.

In conclusion to address the socio-economic disadvantages, the high prevalence of teen

pregnancy we need to address these issues from a cultural sensitive way that takes in context the

cultural, historical, social and health care barriers that young women face in urban and rural

communities. As a community the new Health Tripartite First Nation Health Plan will address

many of these issues. We need to insure that teen mothers have proper access to Health Service,

support system , and action plan for education and further Health and Wellness.


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References

1. Kearney MS, Levine PB. Socioeconomic disadvantage and early childbearing.Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research; 2007. November 10, 2010

from: http://www.nber.org/papers/w13436.pdf.

2. Luong, May. 2008. Life after teenage motherhood. Perspectives on Labor and Income.Vol. 9, no. 5. May. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 75-001-XIE.

3. Dryburgh, H. Teenage pregnancy. Health Reports. 2000; 12(1): 9-19. RetrievedNovember 10, 2010 from: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/studies-etudes/82-

003/archive/2000/5299-eng.pdf.

4. Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Advisory Committee on Population Health. Statisticalreport on the health of Canadians. Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada; 1999. Retrieved

November 10, rom: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-570-x/82-570-x1997001-eng.pdf.

5. Canadian First Nations Women's Beliefs about Pregnancy and Prenatal Care Rsum:Les convictions des autochtones canadiennes sur la grossesse et les soins prnatals

Elizabeth H. Sokoloski 89, pp.89-100

6. British Columbia. Provincial Health Officer's Annual Report (2007) Pathways to Healthand Healing -2nd Report on the Health and Well Being of Aboriginal People in British

Columbia

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