Young People and Family Planning: Teenage Pregnancy
DEFINITION
Teenage pregnancy is defined as a teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant.
The term in everyday speech usually refers to girls who have not reached legal adulthood,
which varies across the world, who become pregnant.
THE CURRENT SITUATION
•
Half of the world’s population are under 25. Some 1.8 billion are aged 10-25, history’s largest
generation of adolescents, and about 85% live in the developing world.
•
Most people become sexually active before their 20th birthday.
•
49% of
girls in least developed countries marry before they turn 18.
•
10% – 40% of young unmarried girls have had an unintended pregnancy according to
community studies.
•
Some 14 million children worldwide are born every year to
young married and unmarried
women aged 15 to 19.
•
According to the Nigerian
Demographic and Health Survey by the National Population Commissio in 2008, the
adolescent fertility rate in Nigeria, was 121 live births per 1,000 births,
which as the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the same survey, Katsina
state has come out top as the state with the highest rate of teenage pregnancy
and motherhood in Nigeria. Katsina state accounted for 65% of teenage pregnancy
while Edo state recorded the least percentage of 2.9%. Furthermore, teenage
pregnancy is higher in the northern geopolitical zone. One in every three girls
in northern Nigeria has started childbearing in 2008, compared to one in every
ten in the south.
•
Among the developed countries,
the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand have the highest level of
teenage pregnancy while Japan and South Korea have the lowest in 2001 survey. The
teenage birth rate in the United States is the highest in the developed world.
•
The highest rate of teenage
pregnancy in the world is in sub-Saharan Africa, where women tend marry at an
early age.
CAUSES OF TEEN PREGNANCIES
Teen pregnancies may result for different reasons in industrialised countries as compared to developing countries. Factors that contribute to teenage
pregnancies include:
•
Customs and traditions that lead to early marriage (developing countries)
•
Adolescent sexual behaviour which may also be influenced by alcohol and drugs especially ecstasy, cannabis and
amphetamines. These drugs are inhibition-reducing.
•
Lack of education and information about reproductive sexual health including lack of access to tools that prevent pregnancies:
adolescents may lack knowledge of or access to conventional methods of
preventing pregnancy as they may be too embarrassed or frightened to seek such
information.
•
Peer pressure to engage in sexual activity
•
Incorrect use of contraception
•
Sexual abuse that leads to rape:
multiple studies have indicated a strong link between early childhood sexual
abuse and subsequent teenage pregnancy in industrialized countries. Up to 70%
of women who gave birth in their teens were molested as young girls.
•
Poverty:
economically poor countries such as Niger and Bangladesh have far more teenage
mothers compared with economically rich countries such as Switzerland and
Japan.
•
Exposure to abuse, violence and family strife at home: women exposed to abuse, domestic
violence and family strife in childhood are more likely to become pregnant as
teenagers and the risk of becoming pregnant as a teenager increases with the
number of adverse childhood experiences. According to a 2004 study, about
one-third of teenage pregnancies could be prevented by eliminating exposure to
abuse, violence and family strife. Foster care youths are more likely than
their peers to become pregnant as teenagers.
•
Low self esteem
•
Low educational ambitions and goal.
•
Media influence: a study conducted in 2006,
found that adolescents who were more exposed to sexuality in the media were
also more likely to engage in sexual activities themselves.
TEEN PREGNANCY: LIFE OUTCOMES ON A TEEN MOTHER, HER CHILD AND SIBLINGS
Research indicates that teen pregnancy and motherhood can have detrimental socio economic and psychological outcomes for the teen mother, her child, and her young siblings.
a) A teen mother is more likely to:
• drop out of school
• have no or low qualifications
• be unemployed or low-paid
• live in poor housing conditions
• suffer from depression which may result in suicide
• live on welfare
b) The child of a teen mother is more likely to:
• live in poverty
• grow up without a father
• become a victim of neglect or abuse
• do less well at school
• become involved in crime
• abuse drugs and alcohol
• eventually become a teenage parent and begin the cycle all over again
c) The younger sibling of a teen mother is more likely to:
• accept sexual initiation and marriage at a younger age
• place less importance on education and employment
TEEN PREGNANCY: MEDICAL OUTCOMES
• Research indicates that pregnant teens are less likely to receive prenatal care, often seeking it
only
in the third trimester, if at all.
• As a result of
insufficient prenatal care, the global incidence of premature births and low birth
weight is
higher amongst teenage mothers.
• Risks for medical complications are greater for girls 14
years of age and younger, as an underdeveloped pelvis can lead to difficulties in childbirth.
• Young women under 20 face a higher risk of obstructed labour, which if Caesarean section is
not available can cause an obstetric fistula, a tear in the birth canal that creates leakage of
urine and/or faeces. At least 2 million of the world’s poorest women live with fistulas.
• Complications during pregnancy and delivery are the leading causes of death for girls aged 15 to 19 in developing countries. They are twice as likely to die in childbirth as women in their 20s.
• Teenage girls account for 14% of the estimated 20 million unsafe abortions performed each
year, which result in some 68,000 deaths.
TEEN PREGNANCY: STIs, HIV AND AIDS
• As a result of
unprotected sex, young people are also at risk of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection.
• The highest rates of STIs worldwide are among young people aged 15 to 24. Some 500,000
become infected daily (excluding HIV).
• Two in five new HIV infections globally occur in young people aged 15 to 24.
• Surveys from 40 countries show that more than half their young people have misconceptions
about how HIV is
transmitted.
• Married adolescent girls generally are unable to negotiate condom use or to refuse sexual relations. They are often married to older men with more sexual experience, which puts them at risk of contracting STIs, including HIV.
PREVENTION OF
TEENAGE PREGNANCY.
•
The Dutch approach to preventing teenage pregnancy has
often been seen as model by other
countries. The curriculum focuses on values, attitudes, communication
and negotiation skills as well as biological aspects of reproduction.
•
Some authors advocate better sex education and
improving contraceptive and advice services for young people, supporting the
parents of teenagers to talk to them about sex and relationships especially
targeting the high-risk group.
•
Improved female literacy and educational
prospects have led to an increase in the age at first birth.
•
Laws against child marriage.
•
Endorsing beliefs that support safe sex
practices
•
Improved security
•
Clinicians and parents should be
non-judgemental when approached for advice regarding sex issues.
WORLD RECORD
Though not a teenager, Lina Medina
of Peru, holds the world record for the youngest live birth; she was 5 years, 7
months old when she gave birth.
Sources:
The Lancet’s Maternal Survival and Women Deliver Series (2006/2007);
2005 World Health Report
2001 Innocenti Report: League Table of Teenage Births in Rich Nations
UNFPA Resource Kit: World Population Day 2008
Wikipedia.
American academy of
paediatrics.
Wikihow.
Nice work Dr. Keep it up.
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