Premium
Intergenerational Life Courses of Teenage Pregnancy in O gbomosho South‐Western N igeria
Author(s) -
Salami Kabiru K.,
Ayegboyin Matthew
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1111/chso.12078
Subject(s) - teenage pregnancy , pregnancy , poverty , teen pregnancy , demography , reproductive health , blame , medicine , psychology , population , environmental health , psychiatry , sociology , political science , genetics , law , biology
Concern that the teenage pregnancy rate in an urban community in Southwest N igeria has doubled within the last decade prompted an intergenerational survey of a sample of 277 respondents (163 pregnant teenagers, 91 teen parents and 23 adult parents who were once teen parents) selected through snowballing and then interviewed in four group discussions in O gbomosho, N igeria. Findings revealed that 43.5 per cent of the female and 48.5 per cent of the male teenagers informed their parents first when they became pregnant or made someone pregnant respectively. They also showed that lack of knowledge about puberty (21.3%) was a major factor that influenced teenage pregnancy. The majority (53.4%) of the respondents believed that their parents perceived teenage pregnancy as G od's blessing, while it was perceived as sign of poverty by their school teachers (36.5%). Blame for unwanted pregnancy was put on the girls by 49.5 per cent of the respondents. Focused educational enlightenment for teenagers on sexual reproductive health is needed for reshaping teenagers' risky behaviours. This is in line with 25.6 per cent of the respondents who felt that community youth forum on sex education could reduce teenage pregnancy.