What are the mental vulnerabilities of teenagers?

Adolescence is an important period in physical and mental changes of girls. During this

stage, biological and psychological developments take place. Puberty, is also an important

landmark of sexuality and is developed during the period of adolescence. At the start of puberty,

the hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis is triggered which is responsible for initiating the

hormonal and physical changes during puberty, (Guarneri & Kamboj, 2019).

According to Akter (2019), adolescence can be divided in three to stages: early (10-13

years), middle (14-16 years), and late (17-19 years). Cognitive development takes places during

adolescence and critical thinking and reasoning begins to develop. During early adolescence,

different behavioral experimentation is noted, in middle adolescents, they are more prone to risk

taking and during late adolescence, a sense of identity, social involvement, peer interaction as

well as sexual interests develop. Atker (2019) also states that that later adolescents learn to assess

their own risk taking.

Kar et al. (2015) states that despite adolescence being the period of sexual development,

in some families’ sexuality is seldomly discussed which gives teenagers little scope to explore

sexuality and affects their perception of it. However, the development of adolescents does not

occur in isolation, it encompasses the family, and the defined sexual culture of the society (Ott,

2010). Also, teenagers are a vulnerable group with little or no control over important social,

health and economic outcomes and as a result are socially isolated with insufficient knowledge

and skills to navigate the challenges of life.

Consequently, the onset of adolescence does not solely bring about physical and

psychological chances but there are new vulnerabilities to human rights abuse such as sexuality,
marriage and childbearing. According to Patnaik et al. (2019), teenage pregnancy can be seen as

an early warning sign of inequality in a society.

A study done by Mollborn et al., (2009), highlights that despite the intuitiveness to

assume that teenage childbearing causes distress, there is a relationship between distress prior to

pregnancy and distress during pregnancy. Mollborn et al., (2009) also states that experiencing

adolescent child bearing does not make teenagers more distressed during their pregnancy but

rather teenagers who were already experiencing stressors are more likely to become teenager

mothers. Thus, a teenager who is supported throughout her pregnancy is less likely to experience

negative mental health outcomes as opposed to teenagers who lack emotional, spiritual and

economic support.

Generally, it is important to note that experiences are factors that shape the characteristics

of adolescence the most and not values and beliefs (Matei et al.,2020). Beyond religion, faith and

general beliefs, personal response to experiences and daily events shapes personalities and

individual mental attributes.

 Reference

Akter, M. (2019). Physical and Psychological Vulnerability of Adolescents during Pregnancy

Period as Well as Post Traumatic Stress and Depression after Child Birth. Open Journal

Of Social Sciences, 07(01), 170-177. doi: 10.4236/jss.2019.71015

Guarneri, A., & Kamboj, M. (2019). Physiology of pubertal development in females. Pediatric

Medicine, 2, 42-42. doi: 10.21037/pm.2019.07.03

Kar, S., Choudhury, A., & Singh, A. (2015). Understanding normal development of adolescent

sexuality: A bumpy ride. Journal Of Human Reproductive Sciences, 8(2), 70. doi:

10.4103/0974-1208.158594

Matei, A., & Antoniu Ionescu, C. (2020). Pregnancy in Adolescence: A Hallmark of

Forthcoming Perinatal Depression?. Selected Topics In Child And Adolescent Mental

Health. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.92644

Ott, M. (2010). Examining the Development and Sexual Behavior of Adolescent Males. Journal

Of Adolescent Health, 46(4), S3-S11. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.01.017

Patnaik, S., Ahuja, V., Gurchandandeep, Lugani, Y., Sharma, N., Goyal, S., & Singh, G. (2019).

Perceptions and preferences regarding sex and contraception, amongst

adolescents. Journal Of Family Medicine And Primary Care, 8(10), 3350. doi:

10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_676_19
 Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, lockdowns have kept teenagers out of school with

devastating consequences. This can especially be seen in developing countries; one negative

impact of the pandemic is the possibility of teenage pregnancy. According to Shah et al.,(2015)

teenagers are generally a vulnerable group. The current pandemic has caused an unanticipated

shift in schooling and has left teenagers to susceptible to even more vulnerable circumstances.

Adolescence is a period of physical, spiritual, psychological and emotional changes. This is also

a time of challenges which exposes them to high risk behaviors, these risky sexual relationships

are one of such behaviors with risks of physical and psychosocial harms (Alimoradi et al., 2017).

According to Lal et al., (2021), health systems have come under pressure since the pandemic and

consequently, reproductive health has been put on the backburner.

According to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA),

Jamaica has the third highest adolescent pregnancy rate in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Thus, there is a concern that school closures contribute to unintended pregnancy and leave young

girls susceptible to gender based violence. The repercussions of an active reproductive teenage

life on the psychological level usually manifests before giving birth, when women experience

blame, critics, and social exclusion Matei et al., (2020)

the Ministry of Education in discovering new strategies to battle this strain faced by students while they

continue to learn, and the University of Technology, Jamaica where the study will be investigated, to

increase awareness and prompt some strategic plans in aiding to minimize the mental and academic

pressure on students who attend the institution.

Pregnancy is known to be a high risk time for mental health in general.

Pregnancy and parenthood are known to be high-risk times for mental health.

However, less is known about the mental health of pregnant adolescents or

adolescent parents. Despite the substantial literature on the risks associated

with adolescent pregnancy, there is limited evidence on best practices for

preventing poor mental health in this vulnerable group. This systematic

review therefore aimed to identify whether psychosocial interventions can

effectively promote positive mental health and prevent mental health

conditions in pregnant and parenting adolescents.

The mental health of pregnant women and new mothers has long been a focus

in the field of reproductive health [1,2,3]. However, less attention has been

paid to pregnant adolescents and adolescent parents, despite evidence

showing that adolescent girls and young women are at greater risk for

developing mental health problems during pregnancy and after they give birth

[4,5,6,7]. There is a growing imperative to focus on the needs of this

vulnerable group.
The leading cause of death among adolescents aged 15-19 years are complications during
pregnancy. One in four sexually active teenager also has a sexually transmitted infection and 3
million females aged 15-19 undergo unsafe abortion annually. (Vanderkruik, Gonsalves,
Kapustianyk, Allen, and Say, 2021)       9

Adolescents are biologically and psychologically unprepared for pregnancy. (Azlina, Nur
Subhanie and Tengku Elmi, 2020)  10 

Some high risk medical complications for early pregnancy include; hypertension, low birth
weight, prematurity, anemia, high risk of malformations, preeclampsia, affected psychosomatic
development, disabilities in growth and behavior, delays in speech, and emotional dysfunctions.
(Florescu, Temneanu, Mindru, 2016)   11

According to (Marvin-Dowle, Burley, & Soltani, 2016) , teenagers who are still growing

themselves may contest with the foetus for nutrients which can result in impaired foetal growth.

During the course of pregnancy nutritional requirements for several micronutrients and energy

increases as pregnancy progresses, therefore, pregnant teenagers need to consume an adequate

diet in order to optimize pregnancy and birth outcomes. 12 

The greatest risk for a teenage mother and her unborn child is failing or delaying to receive

prenatal care. The reason for teenagers not using prenatal care is not associated with the lack of

prenatal services available but the reason is more related to the teenager’s lack of knowledge and

also the humiliation these teenage mothers must face before getting prenatal care (Cherry &

Dillon, 2014).13

Teenagers are not aware or do not think about the physical changes that will occur to their babies

and their bodies which according to (Akter, 2019), may include anaemia (low iron levels in the

blood), High Blood Pressure or Pregnancy Induced Hypertension which can lead to

Preeclampsia, a higher rate of infant mortality, possible a greater risk of cephalopelvic

disproportion (the baby’s head is wider than the pelvic opening), low birth weight or premature

birth. 14
In addition,

psychological changes which includes suicidal behaviour and psychological

distress. Psychiatric disorders, most prevalent panic disorders and major depressive

disorders are associated with suicidal behaviour even after the teenager

adjusts. Pregnant teenagers experience feelings of sadness, shame, emotional

turmoil, stigma surrounding ageism and marital status which may lead to them

seeking unsafe illegal abortions after finding out that they are pregnant (Wilson-Mitchell, 2014).

15.

https://www.paho.org/en/topics/mental-health#:~:text=The%20World%20Health

%20Organization%20(WHO,to%20his%20or%20her%20community%E2%80%9D.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/teenager.

https://americanpregnancy.org/unplanned-pregnancy/teenage-pregnancy/