Intergenerational Life Courses of Teenage Pregnancy in Ogbomosho South‐Western Nigeria

Abstract

Concern that the teenage pregnancy rate in an urban community in Southwest Nigeria 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 Ogbomosho, Nigeria. 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 God'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.

Comprehensive understanding of risk and protective factors related to adolescent pregnancy in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review

“…School activities or community group meetings can reduce the likelihood of adolescent pregnancy (Baumgartner, Geary, Tucker, & Wedderburn, 2009). Youth forums where they discuss and learn about sex can reduce the risk of pregnancy (Salami & Ayegboyin, 2015; Were, 2007). On the other hand, when teenagers are involved in unsupervised group meetings or activities outside of school, they are more likely to be pregnant (Omar et al, 2010).…”

Adolescent men's attitudes and decision making in relation to pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes: An integrative review of the literature from 2010 to 2017

“…In terms, first of attitudes to pregnancy outcomes, most studies focus on a single outcomenamely abortion. For example, a number of quantitative studies using surveys of attitudes of adolescent men have been conducted (Adaji et al, 2010;Salami & Ayegboyin, 2015Altshuler et al, 2015. Altshuler et al (2015) respondents from three main groups of different generations; teenagers, both girls who were currently pregnancy and the boys who made them pregnant, teens who had already become parents, and the parents of those teenagers.…”

Unmet social needs and teenage pregnancy in Ogbomosho, South-western Nigeria

“…Inhabitants are Yoruba and are largely small scale farmers who also are involved in other occupations on part-time basis. Data for this paper was generated from a larger study that documented intergenerational views of three successive generations concerning teenage pregnancy in a South-western community in Nigeria 17 . The views of 174 female respondents comprising 116 pregnant teenagers, 35 teenagers who had given birth and 23 mothers, who gave birth in their teen years, are documented here.…”

“…Although the perspective is still relatively young, its popularity is growing. In recent time, it has been used to understand the life of indebtedness 16 , and more closely, the experiences of teenage pregnancy in three successive generations 17 . Intrinsically, the potential for understanding patterns of stability and change in all types of social systems is exceedingly exponential through life course perspective.…”