Teenage pregnancy and its consequences among female secondary school students

Introduction

A teenager is a person between the ages of 13-19 years. These groups of people are within the school age groups. But financial circumstances of most family deprived most teenagers from being sent to school. (Melani, 2006). The teenage years can be considered as a transitional stage of human development, it is the period in which the child matures to an adult. The transition involves biological (puberty), social and psychological changes. Teenage pregnancy in industrialized countries differs from the developing counties.

Teenagers being they are immature and less experience and thus, they are faced with certain obstacle that could hinder them from reaching their supposed goals. They could also be termed “vulnerable group” within the society especially the females. Most at times, their will is decided by their parent or guidance and this influence their decision on ones action about life issues. The reason stated above forced most teenagers from going to formal school but rather optioned to hawking. This act of hawking exposes them to all sorts of dangers and they become sexually aware in their early life.

In attempt to see their wares, teenage females mingle with tout in the streets, and motor parks, some teenage hawkers are lured into sexual relationship that will result into pregnancy. However, the contemporary challenges of today’s teenagers are as a result of negligence, abandonment and disregard by the parents and other adults in the society.

Situation where the youths are not well taken care of, problems arise such problems are teenage pregnancy, drug addiction and drug abuse.

Teenage pregnancy is a national problem as teenagers are the future of nations of any nations and it depends largely on how the society prepares those young ones for the challenges of the future. In our society, early pregnancy may combine with malnutrition and poor health care to cause medical problem such as pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, anemia and even death.

Conceptual study of teenagers

A teenager is also known as adolescent. It is a period ranging from thirteen years to the early twenties. It is considered as the most important period in human’s life. Most people associate the biological beginning of adolescent, with the time when puberty starts. But it ends when adult status commences. This stage of child development is an issue of social orientation that differs widely among cultures.

According to Orji and Ankweize (2010), teenager is a feminine social state in ones physical life and use the body effectively to achieve emotional independence by electing and preparing for an occupation, marriage and family life development of intellectual skills and achieving social or responsible behavior to acquire a set of values and an ethnic system as a guild to behavior. They also stated that, it is a period when adolescents gain notably in their capacity, apply principles of logic to think in terms of theory or hypothesis.

According to Nkwachia (2012), adolescent means to grow to maturity. He also went further and said adolescent is a stage with abundant credits and debts in physical growth, maturity, self conscious, socialization and cognitive operation. He also stated that, one of the adolescents chief credit is the stupendous ability on a new dimension including what Bruner called “thinking about things” He further stated that the level of conscious in which the growing youth is a dissociation of the phenomenological game intellectual bricks and other hands of sophisticated credit outputs.

 Concept of teenage pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy occurring in young woman between 13-19 years. According to Triffers (2005), teenage pregnancy is the pregnancy in human females from the age of 10 to 19 years.

According to Macleod (2011), teenage pregnancy, is a social problem in which teenagers practices and function (sexual intercourse) owing to her age and developmental status, is not yet adult. Williams (2010) stated that teenage pregnancy is pregnancy in human females under the age of twelve to early twenties at the time that the pregnancy ends. A pregnancy can take place after the start of the puberty before first menstrual period, but usually occurs after the onset of periods.

Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy occurring in a younger girl between the age of thirteen and nineteen years (Spencer, 2011). According to Robert et al (1999), state that adolescent pregnancy is a multifaceted problem as it involves social, political, cultural, educational, and economical factors. He also went further to state some of the risks that the new born babies are exposed to such as premature delivery, cerebral palsies and mental retardations due to birth injuries.

Factors predisposing teenagers to pregnancy

According to Millers (2010), states that poor socio- economic status of the parents, which expose the teenage girls to various ways of making ends meet, like hawking, prostitution and waywardness.

Ignorance: This is one of the major causes of teenage pregnancy on the part of the girl- because there is lack of sex education both at home and in school, parents and teachers regards it as a very difficult subject to discuss.

Broken home and single parenting: This is more likely to increase teenage pregnancy when there is lack of joint control.

Pornography materials and love movies: Children are exposed to such habits and are likely to try out what they had seen and read without knowing the consequences.

Poor and inadequate family up- bringing: Parent has abandoned their fundamental role of bringing up their children to religious and social way in pursuit of material gains.

Polygamous home: Children from polygamous family are loose and engage in an unhealthy rivalry.

Friends and peers: Like siblings, friends are socializing agents, who set standards of conduct and serve as role models, thus shaping the development of sexual attitudes and norms. It is interesting to note that it is not only the actual behavior of peers, but the assumption of certain behavior by peers, that influence adolescent sexual activity.

Other factors may include:

Romantic and sexual partners

Values and Role modeling

Areas with low practice of human rights

The ways parents and their children relate to each other.

Consequences of teenage pregnancy

The consequences of teenage pregnancy vary and affect teenagers, parents, family, and society at large. Teenage pregnancy affects teenagers emotionally, psychologically, and socially. (Hogan, 2010)

The emotional effect of teenage pregnancy on the teens include

1. Confusion
2. Anger
3. Depression
4. Frustration
5. Resentment

Psychological effects include

1. Withdrawal from school
2. Low social status
3. Social stigma
4. Attendant joblessness and consequent poverty.

Social effects of teenage pregnancy

1. Financial dependent of family
2. Lack of skill job
3. Dropout from school
4. Lower educational levels
5. Higher rates of poverty

 Health implication of teenage pregnancy

The health implication of teenage pregnancy and child birth are as follow.

1. According to Lee, et al (2009), there is a higher risk of sexually transmitted infection which threatens the fertility of both men and women. Cervical gonorrhea, for example often causes pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) which can damage the fallopian tube and result in infertility.
2. Children born of teenage mothers are more likely to suffer some health problems like, low birth weight, still birth and high infant death.
3. They are prone to severe anemia, pre- pregnancy can deplete the body iron reserve which can lead to premature delivery and both maternal and fetal death.
4. Prolonged and obstructed labour due to inadequate pelvic as their bones are still in the formation phase.
5. It could lead to bowel and bladder problems like vesico-vaginal fistula and recto-vaginal fistula.
6. Pregnant adolescents are not likely to receive early and adequate prenatal care. Development of medical problems is likely to set in because of financial difficulties.
7. There is high maternal (mother) death as a result of the pregnancy and child birth, when the infants head is too large to pass through the mother cervix, this may lead to uterine perforation.

 Prevention of teenage pregnancy

The following are some possible measures that can be adopted to effectively reduce the number of teenage pregnancies.

1. Sex education: Comprehensive health education about sex can help to prevent teenage pregnancy. This has been advocated in the United States where it has been commenced in an appropriate age manner, from kindergarten to later adulthood. This programmed includes education on abstinence, safer sex practice and the use of contraceptive use.
2. Mass media: According Bruse (2003), it is an important role to be played in prevention of teenage pregnancy. It is a major source of teen information about sex. In united state television programmed contains a scene with emphasis on sexual behavior. The media through the use of commercial or public information campaign can help to promote health, lower risk of sexual behavior hereby reducing the incidence of teenage pregnancy.
3. Law against child marriage
4. In underdeveloped countries, husband should be involved in the effort to promote the reproductive health of their young wives since most of these teenage women are married in these regions.
5. The community challenge grant (C.C.G): Program promotes community- based partnerships that aim to reduce teen and unintended pregnancy and absentee fatherhood, promote responsible parenting and increase the individual of fathers in the economic. Social and emotional development of their children.

References

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