Substance Abuse Rampant Among Pregnant Teens

Stockbyte/Thinkstock(AUSTIN, Texas) — Teenage girls who become pregnant certainly have to grow up much faster than their non-pregnant peers.

However, it turns out that a majority of them engage in destructive behavior than can harm their unborn child as well as themselves, according to researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Saint Louis University’s School of Social Work.

Based on a large, nationally representative sample, almost six in ten pregnant teens admitted taking one or more substances during the past 12 months that included alcohol, marijuana and other drugs. That’s compared to 35 percent of girls who are not pregnant.

The study also found that a third of pregnant girls age 12 to 14 years old said they used one or more of these substances within the last 30 days.

However, alcohol and drug use dropped substantially across all ages groups as the girls went further into their pregnancies.

Nevertheless, lead study author Christopher Salas-Wright at UT Austin’s School of Social Work says that statistics show more work needs to be done. He added that levels of substance abuse among pregnant teens declined by 50 percent when the girls came from homes with strong adult support and supervision. Also, girls who kept attending school were also less inclined to use alcohol and drugs.

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