The Resilience of Unwed Pregnant Teenagers: A Preliminary Survey at Malaysian Women’s Shelter Homes

Abstract

Unwed pregnant teenagers tend to experience various problems. Apart from that, they also receive negative perception from community. For that reason, most shelters are provided to assist and protect the teenagers involved. However, only those who can adjust to hardships or resilient can survive the worse. This preliminary survey aimed to identify the level of resilience among unwed pregnant teenagers (UPTs). The study involved 34 UPTs from four women’s shelters under the supervision of the government and private organizations in Peninsular Malaysia. The respondents were selected using the purposive sampling technique. This study used a quantitative approach, and the instrument of this study was a questionnaire named Tahap Resilien Remaja (TReR), which was administered based on the Ego-Resiliency Scale (ER89) and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). The items in the TReR were validated by five expert evaluators in the psychological and social fields. Study data were analyzed descriptively using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 25.0. The findings of the study showed that UPTs in women’s shelters had a moderate level of resilience (Mean[M] = 3.40, Standard Deviation [SD] = 1.010). The UPTs in this study showed good progress in the shelters. Therefore, the shelters are expected to maintain and improve the quality of existing services from time to time. Other shelters can also utilize the findings of this study to provide better services to their residents to recover from psychosocial problems resulting from cases of unwed pregnancy.