Epidemiological Principles and the Issue of Teen Pregnancy Personal Statement

Epidemiological Principles and the Issue of Teen Pregnancy - Personal Statement Example This legally mandated reporting system provides accurate data on the number of teens giving birth as well as specific demographic details such as race, legal residence, age, and the number of previous births (Martin et.al. 2006).     From this data changes, distribution patterns and trends over time can be monitored and areas for future research and causal relationships can be researched further.   This legally mandated reporting system provides accurate data on the number of teens giving birth as well as specific demographic details such as race, legal residence, age, and the number of previous births (Martin et.al. 2006).     From this data changes, distribution patterns and trends over time can be monitored and areas for future research and causal relationships can be researched further.  Ã‚   Additionally, based upon this ongoing monitoring, programs put into place to reduce or eliminate teenage pregnancy can be evaluated for effectiveness.   This is only possible t hrough this accurate data collection and just as importantly the publishing of results which allows researchers to evaluate and further investigate this serious issue.      The next area that shows the epidemiological principals are applied to the teen pregnancy problem can be found in the anonymity of data collection and studies performed.   Epidemiology focuses on groups of people as opposed to individual cases.   All the government agencies previously discussed as well as private agencies that present statistical data on teen pregnancy deal with teen pregnancy in terms of numbers, percentages and other statistics, which are further broken down into various categories such as race of mother, age, economic background, educational level, number of pregnancies and many other categories as opposed to individual case studies. Based on this ongoing data, researcher further applies principles of epidemiology by analyzing the data and through the scientific method make hypotheses based upon the data as to causal effects and contributing factors that increase the risk of teen pregnancy.   Also based on the data researchers can ascertain life-changing consequences teen mothers face.   These facts are determined by applying the epidemiological principle of studies performed by researchers.   There are according to the CDC two main types of studies observational and experimental.   In the case of teen pregnancy, various types of studies are conducted to evaluate relationships between teen pregnancy and various factors which contribute to it.   Additionally, studies are conducted to evaluate the effect of teenage mothers.  Ã‚