Adolescent pregnancy and associated factors in South African youth

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Adolescent pregnancy and associated factors in South African youth
 

– Reported, May 27, 2013

 

Adolescent pregnancy, occurring in girls aged 10–19 years, remains a serious health and social problem worldwide, and has been associated with numerous risk factors evident in the young people’s family, peer, school, and neighbourhood contexts. In sub-Saharan Africa, one such risk factor in early child bearing is increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. While HIV is one of the unintended consequences of unprotected sexual intercourse, pregnancy is another indicator that young people are having unprotected sex.

Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa indicates that 35% of pregnancies among 15–19 year olds were unplanned, unwanted or untimed and that the teenagers’ relationships were unstable. Only about two thirds of these unintended pregnancies end in childbirth, while a third results in unsafe abortions.

Adolescent pregnancy interferes with young women’s educational attainment, resulting in fewer job opportunities for young women. Several studies have argued that young school girls engage in sex with older partners and have transactional sex, whereby gift or money are exchanged for sex. Such relationships result in young women having little or no negotiating power with their partners to insist on condoms usage a situation which may result in high risk of becoming pregnant and contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS. Access to reproductive health services is another factor which contributes to adolescent pregnancy since young people always want to be able access sexual and reproductive health information and services without being exposed to public stigma. Many studies on teenage pregnancy have focused on the practices of adolescents in general and outcomes of their pregnancies, but very limited understanding of factors that place particular adolescents at increased risk of teenage pregnancy. Therefore, there is a need for studies that focus on factors that put adolescents at risk of teenage pregnancy from both female and male partners.

Nineteen percent of respondents got pregnant because they wanted to prove their maturity or identity as women. However, most of the respondents (55.5%) got pregnant the first time because they did not understand the risks involved in what they were doing or did not understand how pregnancy happens. Most respondents (74.1%) indicated that their pregnancies were unwanted, yet only 6.8% ever terminated a pregnancy or persuaded someone to do so.

Young women were asked about gender related perceptions, which may entrech unequal power relations between men and women. Some of the unequal power relations were confirmed by a sizable proportion of the young women. Over half of young women in this study (55.9%) endorsed that they have to endure much greater hardship than men. A majority of 70.8% young women respondents agreed that women have more responsibilities than men, while more than one in five believed that they have fewer opportunities than boys after leaving school. One in three felt that they are unequal to males and four in five believed women were always vulnerable to violence and abuse. The young women in this study were asked about communication on various sources about reproduction (how babies are made) and use of reproductive health services.

 

Adolescent pregnancy was found to be high in this sample of South African youth. Multiple factors contributing to adolescent pregnancy have been identified which can be used in targeting young people on the prevention of adolescent pregnancy.

CREDITS.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
G Mchunu, K Peltzer, B Tutshana, and L Seutlwadi  

 

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