Teenage Pregnancy and How It Affects the Educational Development of Our Teenagers
CHAPTER ONE
PREAMBLE TO THE STUDY
Baldwin (1950) viewed teenage stage, as a period where reactivation of the `sexual drives that has been inactive during the latency period. He said teenagers are on the boundary between childhood and adulthood and they are faced with the choice of a whole way of life in terms of their job, their ethics and so forth. He further said that to find this in the face of many alternative roles, individuals must decide what they want to do and whether they are able to do it, they must take responsibility for decisions that may shape the rest of their life or destroy it. And to take this independent step, persons need a real sense of identity of their own worth as individuals and their esteem and he said our culture does not make it easy for our teenagers to take this step in life.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
CONCEPT OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY
Reynolds et al (2006) said that teenage pregnancy of course as we know has become quite an issue lately, and of course as we know is a major problem amongst the youths of todays world. In parts of the developing world fertility rates are high, teenage pregnancy and early marriage are common. Worldwide teenagers have more than 90% of these occurring in developing countries, pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among women, teenagers are at increased risk for poor maternal death during childbirth is 2-4 times as high among teenagers as among women aged 20 or older.
Westoff (2003) opined that pregnant teenagers are affected by poverty, Cultural factors that restrict women’s autonomy, promote early marriage or support harmful traditional practices, nutritional deficiencies and also that teenagers who become pregnant may cut their education short because they are forced to leave school, yet early childbearing may improve a woman’s social status because in some cultures it is an important step towards marriage. Unmarried, pregnant teenagers face a variety of difficult decision, they may decide whether to give birth or to have an abortion and whether to raise a child they bear or to place the baby for adoption. He further said that they must make the same critical decisions about schoolwork and relationships as other teenagers must make. In designing interventions to help young women make the transition from adolescence to adulthood without having an unintended birth, it is important to understand the life circumstances motivations and events that lead some unmarried teenagers to become pregnant and the processes involved in the decision to carry a non-marital teenage pregnancy to term.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In carrying out a research topic of this nature, (the advantages and disadvantages of teenage pregnancy in Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State) the researcher went through many processes of collecting necessary data and information that may be useful to the study.
RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
The instruments used for the collection of data for this study were questionnaire and oral interview.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
FINDINGS
The main aim of the research is to find out “the advantages and disadvantages of teenage pregnancy in Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State”.
This chapter analysis the information collected which was presented in simple percentages. There were spaces provided for the respondents to answer yes or no in section B and D the abbreviation “A” represented agreed; “D” indicated disagreed; which “U” indicated undecided, which was used in section C.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY
The researcher reviewed several studies conducted by eminent scholars on the advantages and disadvantages of teenage pregnancy. As earlier stated in the preceding chapter, the research was conducted through the use of questionnaires and oral interview.
The data collected from the research was analyzed and some basic questions were been discussed. These questions includes:
- Free assess to pornographic films without the presence of adult guidance on sex education causes teenage pregnancy.
- Teenage pregnancies occur as a result of relationship with older male counterparts
- Does cultural upbringing and religious inclination affect teenage pregnancy
- Does teenage pregnancy affects young girls performance in school
- Are there adequate knowledge and proper guidance on teenage pregnancy.
The study also found out the advantage of teenage pregnancy, which are greater fertility, a more healthy pregnancy and a quicker recovery after birth and the disadvantages are diseases like Vesico Virgina fistular, interruption in her education and so many others.
In summary, the study also found out that sex education is designed to prepare youths (especially teenage girls which is the focus of this study) to cope with their developmental task and become responsible women and mothers in the future.
CONCLUSION
Based on the findings of the study, the researcher made some conclusion. Teenage pregnancy has been militating against the smooth and successful development of teenage girls in Kaura Local Government of Kaduna State and the world at large.
The disadvantages of teenage pregnancy out numbers its advantages so therefore, it is important that the Local Government Area and the State at large should focus its attention on how to tackle these problems. In other words all hands must be on deck to look into the problems of teenage pregnancy by parents the Local Government and the State as a whole
RECOMMENDATIONS
The recommendations are based on the researchers opinion for suggestion, which are possible solutions to the attested research questions. Therefore the following recommendations were made:-
- Teenagers need to feel free to talk to their parents on sex long before puberty because they are sexual beings
- Parents should not be embarrassed to talk to their wards, because it is the parents attitude that is important, they should stay open to discuss anything with their wards.
- Teenagers should not be allowed by their parents to watch pornographic films or listen to corrupt musicals without adult guidance.
- Teenage girls should be left to fully develop reproductively before giving them out in marriage because teenage pregnancy as a result of early marriage inflicts diseases such as Vesico Virgina Fistular.
- Parents should try by all means to provide all the necessary needs of their teenage girls in order for them not to look outside which will push them into having relationship with older male counterparts and then ending up with pregnancy.
- The Local Government Area should adequate enlightenment, adequate knowledge and proper guidance on teenage pregnancy.
- Moral and religious teachings on teenage pregnancy should be included in the school curriculum and syllabus.
- Parents should not contract early marriage for their selfish reasons instead they should allow their daughters grow and fully mature and also be allowed to choose their life partners themselves.
- Finally, the study recommended that adequate knowledge is needed on teenage pregnancy in view of the current incidence of child abandonment; illegal abortions, sexually transmitted disease and early divorce.
REFERENCES
- Alan Guttmacher (1998). Young women’s sexual and reproductive Lives
- Baldwin, A. L. (1950). Theories of the Child Development Second edition pp. 390-393.
- Heidi, W. R., Emelita L. W. &
- Heidi Tuckher (2006) International Family Planning Perspective. volumes 32
- Jain Mukti (1990) The Bay Challenge
- Kato Rose (2006) Women and Development. Lecture notes – Unpublished.
- Longman Dictionary of Contemporary of English (1995) Third Edition
- Rukavina S. & Adewale Y. (2005) Unicef Voices of Youth Discussions on Teenage pregnancy.
- Watson R. I. & Lingren H. C.
- (1979). Psychology of the Child and Adolescent . Fourth Edition pp. 503 – 504
- Westoff C. F. (2003) Trends in marriage and early child bearing in developing countries.
- Westport. C. T. (2004) Save the Children
