Impact of Teenage Pregnancies On Teenagers And Their Families In Part of South Eastern Afro Ecological Zone Of Nigeria

AB

A survey of the impact of teenage pregnancies on the teenagers and their families was carried out in Akwa-lbom, Enugu and Imo States of Nigeria. It was aimed to identify and document the causes and consequences of teenage pregnancies and some measures to reduce the occurrence; and at the same time integrate the victims to the society. Multi stage sampling and multi data gathering tools were used. A total of 300 respondents formed the study population. The data collected were statistically analyzed. Among the causes of teenage pregnancies were age, educational status, occupation of the teenagers and parental monthly income. Most parents were shocked to hear that their teenage giris were pregnant and sternly wanted to know who were responsible. All the pregnant girls were unhappy while those of them in a more desperate situations opted for abortion. The culprits themselves denied the fact. It is an established fact that teenage pregnancies are filled with problems for the teenagers involved with particular reference to their educational, social and marital status. Since poverty of the parents and lack of self of the teenagers contributed greatly to teenage pregnancies, it is very apparent that if self discipline is inculcated into the teenagers on time and the economic condition of parents are improved, .certainly there would be a reasonable reduction in the occurrence of teenage pregnancies in the nation as a whole and the victims well integrated into the society.