Why children are having children (Teenage pregnancy and causes)

By dr joel enejeta

The swinging sixties left an echo that would lead to extensive research into adolescent sexuality.  What adults were accepting as their rights soon became during the process of socialization and imitation, what the young feel was “okay” to emulate and copy – and exploration of the delights and enjoyment of unrestricted and unrestrained sexual activity.  A recent newspaper report noted that most adolescent, irrespective of their culture, are sexually active before the age of 15 years, even if their parents are reluctant to admit it.

The consequences have been an upsurge in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, and in the number of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, among adolescents too young to assume the psychological and physical burden of parenthood.

The pregnant teenager is at risk, as well as her unborn infant.  There is an undisputed tendency for teenagers to give birth to low birth weight infants.  Infants weighing less than 2.5kg are more at  risk for neurological and other developmental deficiencies.  Their nursing care also present more problems for medical personnel, for they are young and inexperience mother, her family and the country at large as the latter has to provide services for their survival.

It is in the developing countries that teenage pregnancy has become a primary cause for concern, as a result of its contribution to higher maternal mortality rates.  It is in these countries where industrialization and westernization have led to the adoption or copying by adolescent of the practices of their western counterparts, that the prices have been highest.  School drop-out rates, illegal abortions, medical problems such as vaginal and rectal fistula resulting in ostracism, Child neglect and abandonment are some of the problem noted.

Teenage pregnancy is defined in the United State of America as an under-aged girl becoming pregnant.  However, in the United Kingdom, there is a legal definition whereby a woman is considered to be a pregnant teenager if she becomes pregnant before her 18th birthday.  The term usually refers to women, who have not reached the age of legal adulthood, and this varies across the world, and who then becomes pregnant.

Teenage pregnancy in developed countries is usually found outside of marriage, and carries a social stigma in many communities and culture .

In other countries and culture particularly in the developing world or countries, teenage pregnancy may also be seen within marriage and then does not involve a social stigma.

The rate of pregnancy among Nigeria adolescents is thought to be on the increase and is causing major health and social problems.  Recent Nigerian demographic and health survey indicates that more than a quarter of Nigerian adolescents who are not married, and that about 12% of the pregnancies are unintended.

Several reports also show that adolescents are more likely to resort to unsafe abortions and are more likely to suffer abortion-related morality and mortality.

Data from the leading Teaching Hospitals in Nigeria indicate that a great majority of abortion-related hospital admission due to adolescents are in those who are not legally married.

Okonofua et al reported that of the 13 death from a study group of 74 women admitted into Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ife for complications of illegal abortion, nine(9) of them were never-married adolescents.

There is also evidence that adolescents who decide to carry their pregnancy  to term are more likely to develop severe complications of pregnancy and delivery.  They tend to have higher frequency of vesico-vaginal fistulae, increased rates of eclampsia, obstructed labour and post-partum haemorrhage.  Okonofua (1992) reported that about 35% of maternal deaths at the OAUTH Ife were among women aged 20 years and below.

CAUSE OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY

1. Early marriage and traditional gender roles are important factors in the rate of teenage pregnancy. For example, in Sub-Saharan African, early marriage is often seen as a blessing because it is a proof of the young women’s fertility and in the Indian subcontinent early marriage and pregnancy is more common and encouraged in the rural countries.

2. Adolescent sexual behaviour. Various information available from the internet, declares that sex by age 15 – 20 years of age is the norm from across the world.  Countries with low levels of adolescent pregnancy accept sexual relationships among teenagers and provide comprehensive and balanced information about sexuality.  The highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the world is in Sub-Sahra Africa where women tend to marry early, low in Indonesia and Malayasia and lowest in South Korea and Singapore.
3. According to Gill Francis of the National Children Bureau, there are four reasons why girls get pregnant early.

–           We don’t give children enough information

–           We give them mixed message about sex and relationships

–        Social deprivations means that girls are more likely to become            pregnant

–           Girl whose mother were teenage mother are more likely to do the same.

4. According to Grace Hsu of the Family Research Council revealed that many teenage girls are being sexually exploited and impregnated by adult men. Issues such as family breakdown, fatherless families, lack of parental supervisions and cultural influences are also contributory.
5. 5. Peer pressure. 76% of girls and 58% of boys in a survey done in 1996 reported that teenage females had sexual intercourse in response to their boyfriend’s desire.  A similar survey also reported that one in three young men aged 15 – 17 years said that they have been pressured to have sex by male friends.
6. Parental relationship. 66% of girls in a 1997 survey said that the likelihood of becoming pregnant is increased if one had parents who were:

– Inattentive

– Unloving

– Failed to instil moral values

7. Contraceptive use. 46% of adolescents believes that teenage pregancy results from:

–           Failure to keep contraceptive at the ready     always

–           Having sex with partners who will not agree to use condoms while – 76% of girls claim that it was embarrassing to buy birth control pills or           seek information from a health worker, so they do without and hope for the best.

8. Mass media. Teenage pregnancy has been used as a theme or plot in story books or novels, films and television series.   In a 1997 Parade survey,  57% respondents replied that sexualized contents in films, 55% in television series and 44% in music help to influenced teenagers to engage in sexual activity before they are ready.  Also, 36% of respondents in the survey said that they believed that an adolescent might become pregnant to satisfy  a desire for unconditional love, and also may become pregnant in an attempt to retain or win back a boyfriend.
9. Sexual abuse. Rape is a majority factor in pregnancy under age of 15 years, and a minority factor in ages above 15 years. Two third of teenage girls in the USA are fathered  by men aged 20 years and above.

Studies have shown that 11 – 20% of pregnancies in teenagers are as a direct result of rape.  Studies have also shown that 60% of girls who had sex before age of 15 years were coerced by males of an average of six years their senior.  One in five teenage fathers admitted to forcing girls to have sex with them.

NB: In many countries, sexual intercourse between a minor and an adult is not legally treated as consensual because  the minor is said to lack the maturity and competence to make an informed decision to engage in a fully consensual sex with an adult.

She may easily be manipulated and taken advantage of by an adult due to  their lack of knowledge or forced by issues of power and control (e.g. teacher/pupil situation). In developed countries, sex with a minor is looked upon as statutory rape, only differing from country to country with age.

–           USA, many state outlaw sex with anyone under 18 years.

–           UK, illegal for a man to  have sex with a girl   under 16 years

–           Italy, 14 years

–           Spain, 12 years

10. Childhood environment.  Women exposed to abuse, domestic violence and family strife in childhood are more likely than those without such experience to have a teenage pregnancy, and the risk increases with the number of adverse childhood experience.  Studies have also shown that boys raised in homes with a battered mother, or who experience physical violence directly were significantly more likely to impregnate a girls whose fathers left the family early in their lives had the highest rates of early sexual activity and adolescent pregnancy. Girls whose fathers left them at a latter age had a lower rate, with the lowest rates found in girls whose father were present throughout their childhood.
11. Aged discrepancy in relationship. Studies have shown that an important contributing factor is an age discrepancy between the teenage girl and the man who impregnate her.  Teenage girl with older adult men are more likely to become pregnant than those with partner close to their ages.  Men over 25 years fathered twice as many teenage births as did boys under age 18 years.  A 1992 Washington State – study of 535 adolescent mothers found that 62% of the teenage mothers had a history of rape or sexual molestation by men whose ages averaged 27 years.

The study found that abused adolescent mothers initiated sex earlier, had sex with much older partners, and engaged in riskier, more frequent and promiscuous sex.