Teen Pregnancy in Virginia Teen pregnancy is primarily a critical health issue for the public, affecting the social, economic, health and educational future of both the child and the mother. According to the Office of the Adolescent Health's Virginia Adolescent Reproductive Health Facts (2008), Virginia was ranked 37th among the current 51 states in pregnancies among women ages 15 to 19. The scale used was that 1 represented the highest rate of teen pregnancies and 51 represented the lowest rate of teen pregnancies (Guttmacher Institute, 2010). In 2011, Virginia was number 40 out of 51 states. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay I will conduct needs assessments by running researchers from various reputable websites such as the Virginia.gov database, Virginia Health Department, guttmacher.org database, the Office of Adolescent Health databases, the Virginian Pilot archives, and the archives of the Washington Post. By collecting data related to teen pregnancy in Virginia, I will be able to come to a good conclusion about how teen pregnancy rates in Virginia. I will also discuss other factors such as food preferences, drinking patterns, nutritional level, overweight population, underweight population, and extent of drug abuse among pregnant teens in Virginia. This article will focus on teen pregnancy in Virginia by providing various statistical data. An increase in the rate of teen pregnancy has been observed in Virginia over the past decade. According to the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) in 2003, Virginia's teen birth rate was approximately 36.1/1,000 women ages 15 to 19. But in 2013, the birth rate was found to have dropped as low as 20.1 births, which gave Virginia the twelfth lowest incidence of teen births among fifty to fifty states. Compared to its peers, the state of Virginia had a relatively lower rate than Tennessee (34.7) and North Carolina (28.4), although it was slightly higher than the states of Maryland, which had 19.4. Massachusetts led the nation with approximately 12.1/1,000 teen births during the same period (Guttmacher Institute, 2010). According to the Guttmacher Institute, (2010) the rate of teen pregnancy in Virginia has increased to approximately 57/1,000 births among female teens. This was in accordance with the established trend among other states as well. At that particular time, Virginia was ranked 22nd lowest in the United States. The other states like Maryland had 57/1,000, North Carolina had 59/1,000, Tennessee had 62/1,000, and New Hampshire was the leading state with about 28/1,000 female teen pregnancies. Additional information from VDH showed that the Southwest had the highest rate of teen pregnancies at 44.7/1,000 while the North had the lowest at 18.0/1,000 teen pregnancies. In 2013, the VDH's overall report showed there were 7,335 teen pregnancies in Virginia, averaging about 27.8/1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 19. According to the Virginia.gov database, (2010) approximately 54% of all pregnancies in Virginia were unintended. This is approximately 84,000 pregnancies. Teen pregnancy, which worries me, affected 48 out of 1,000 women ages 15 to 19 (Virginia.gov, 2010). At that particular time, the national number of teen pregnancies was approximately 57/1,000 teen births. Although it wasn't clear how many teenage women they hadperformed an abortion, approximately 52% of all unintended pregnancies in Virginia resulted in a successful birth and approximately 34% of abortions, with the remainder being miscarriages. Over the same period, the state and federal governments primarily spent $506.5 million on all unintended pregnancies. About $312 million was provided by the federal government and about $194.6 million was cleared by the state. Additional data from the VDH shows that teen pregnancy in Virginia is an issue that requires public attention. The number of births to females under the age of 20 in the United States was approximately 333,746. In Virginia itself, 6,581 female pregnancies were found (Virginia Department of Health, 2011). The number of births under the age of 15 in the United States was 3,974 and in Virginia alone there were 57 female pregnancies. There were approximately 95,538 women between the ages of 15 and 17 in the United States and 1,709 in Virginia alone. Those between the ages of 18 and 19 numbered approximately 234,234 in the United States and 4,815 in Virginia alone. As for females aged 15 to 19, there are 329,772 in the United States and 6,524 in Virginia alone. When we consider the ethnicity or race of the mother, the number of births to non-Hispanic whites was found to be 130,198 in the United States and 3,119 in Virginia. For non-Hispanic blacks the number of births was 79,936 and 2,428 in Virginia. For American Indians or Alaska Natives, the number of births was 6,897 in the United States, and their rate was unclear in Virginia. For Asians or Pacific Islanders, the number of births was 5,773 in the United States and 76 in Virginia. For Hispanics, the number of births was 111,236 in the United States and 926 in Virginia. Teen birth rates in the United States were 31.3/1,000 in the United States and 24.5/1,000 in Virginia (Virginia Department of Health, 2011). Birth rates among adolescents aged 15 to 17 were 15.4/1,000 in the United States and 11.2/1,000 in Virginia. Birth rates among adolescents aged 18 to 19 were 54.1/1,000 in the United States and 42.7/1,000 in Virginia. In Virginia, the percentage of women younger than 20 was 47% for non-Hispanic white, 37% for non-Hispanic black, 1% for Asian or Pacific Islander, and 14% for Hispanic. This shows that teen births in Virginia did not start currently, but started a long time ago, about ten years ago. But according to the above data it is clear that teen pregnancies have gradually decreased in Virginia (Elizabeth, 2010). Food preferences and consumption among Virginia adolescent females typically range from grains, fruits, vegetables, and junk foods. Junk foods are the favorite food choice for teenage women in Virginia, along with soft drinks. Females eat mostly grains and meet the minimum intake often recommended by the Food Pyramid. Women consume only 0.8 servings of whole grains. Although some eat fruits, it was found that about 38% of pregnant adolescent women did not consume any food. Dairy consumption is usually low, especially among pregnant teenagers. According to VDH, about 9 percent of women ages 14 to 18 and about 25 percent of adolescent women ages 9 to 13 have taken such products. What was found consumed in large quantities were soft drinks, where approximately 70-85% of young people aged 9-18 consumed soft drinks every day. Nearly 20% of pregnant teens between the ages of 14 and 18 consumed more than 3 servings per day. The levelnutrition of pregnant teenagers in Virginia was poor and this was the reason they were giving birth to underweight babies. This is because most pregnant teenagers do not yet have the support of their families as they are not yet married. Furthermore, they do not go to antenatal care services as they have not accepted themselves and are shy about their pregnancy condition. It is during that age that most teenagers go to school, so pregnancy leads them to drop out of school to take care of their needs. So, because they have no close companions during pregnancy and, due to stress, their nutrition is very poor. The overweight rate of teenagers in Virginia between the ages of 15 and 19 is 29.8%. The underweight rate for the same population is low, around 7%. During the early years of pregnancy, Virginia teens lose their appetite and lose more weight. But after the second month, teenagers have mostly been accepted by their families and society and the stress level decreases. This causes pregnant teenagers to eat a lot and gain weight during the pregnancy period until giving birth, after which they return to their normal condition. Drug abuse among adolescents is prevalent among students in grades 12 and 19. Females who smoked in the year 2011 were found to be 16%. Those who chewed tobacco, salsa or snuff were found to be around 2%. Those who drank alcohol were approximately 19% (Virginia Department of Health, 2011). Those who used marijuana were 31% in Virginia. Those using any form of cocaine were found to be about 2 percent in Virginia. It turned out that it was easy for students at school to get drugs. Most teens, about 9 percent, usually got their drugs from the gas station or distributor. Students are generally generous on their way to school and many obtain their medications from friends. When the kids are at home it turns out that it is difficult for them to get those drugs. The extent of tobacco and alcohol sales among adolescents is usually determined by their adolescent peers. Only a small population purchases the drug from outside, but the majority administers it or buys it from colleagues. The prevalence of alcohol- and other drug-related arrests was approximately 5%. These are the students who get so drunk or abuse other drugs like marijuana and painkillers where their teachers acknowledge. But most of them are not arrested easily, especially those who distribute them since they know how to use them appropriately. Notably, pregnant adolescent women in Virginia were not recognized as hospitalized by the VDH due to tobacco, alcohol, or other drug abuse. There are various opportunities for recreation and exercise available to teenagers, especially when they are in school. These activities include drawing, playing instruments such as piano and guitar, music, drama clubs, religious clubs, football, basketball, hockey, chess and volleyball, among others. All of this is provided to students to ensure they have a variety of things to do during their free time. Activities, especially those involving physical activities, are a health safety as they reduce obesity among students. Adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 are mostly very sensitive to sexual activity. They are very active since adolescence (Virginia Department of Health, 2011). There is a population of approximately 3% who adopt homosexuality due to peers, although the majority remain heterosexual. Most teenagers are often.