Teenage Pregnancy Many American families display forms of dysfunctionality. In one family the father may be a workaholic and the mother an alcoholic. In another, the father maybe an alcoholic and the mother an enabling codependent who never touches a drop. Regardless of the specific affliction, children being raised within dysfunctional families are deprived of what is needed to become happy, healthy, and well-adjusted adults. One of the most pervasive effects of this deprivation is teenage pregnancy. In the case of a family where one parent, the father, is an alcoholic, the affected parent turns to alcohol as a