TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND ITS EFFECT ON TEENAGERS’ EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND ITS EFFECT ON TEENAGERS’ EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Teen pregnancy is a major current societal issue that affects the vast majority of the world’s countries. This issue has been a source of concern for policymakers, social workers, and other human care providers from first-world countries such as the United States to third-world countries due to its negative effects on the female child (Grunseit, 2007). In 1997, Grunseit discovered that the United States of America had the highest rate of adolescent pregnancy. Furthermore, he noted that each year, an increasing number of adolescent females, many of whom are under the age of 17, become pregnant. Furthermore, according to Xinhua (1996), approximately 33.4 percent of documented childbirths in Ghana occurred among teenagers aged thirteen (13) to nineteen (19). (19). Data were used to compile this study.

from childbirths recorded in public hospitals. In rural areas, where traditional birth attendants are used and no statistical data is kept, the situation is even worse.

The majority of authors have linked adolescent pregnancy and eventual parenting to poverty. Poverty, they believe, is both a cause and a result of adolescent pregnancy. Keller, Hilton, and Twumasi-Ankrah (1999), for example, asserted that in rural areas, family financial constraints and societal customs encourage girls to stay out of school and engage in early sexual encounters, which leads to early pregnancy, perpetuating the cycle of poverty. This is based on the assumption that addressing adolescent pregnancy will have a knock-on effect on poverty. One of society’s social problems is teen pregnancy. Teenage pregnancy is not a good sign.

for the girl child’s development. This is due to the girls’ age and a lack of consistent help to care for the children and themselves when they should have been at school. Teen pregnancy and motherhood are thought to be associated with humiliation, embarrassment, school dropout, and, in some cases, the end of an individual’s hopes of furthering their education. According to Yampolskaya, Brown, and Greenbaum (2002), “approximately 60% of young women live in poverty at the time of childbirth, and approximately 73% enter welfare within five years of childbirth.”

Baldwin (1950) saw adolescence as a time of reawakening dormant sexual urges throughout the latency phase (Hosie, 2007). He stated that children are approaching maturity and are confronted with

the opportunity to choose a complete way of life in terms of career, ethics, and so on. He went on to say that in order to discover this in the face of numerous alternative roles, people must first decide what they want to achieve and whether they are capable of achieving it; they must also accept responsibility for decisions that will shape or wreck the rest of their lives. Individuals must have a strong sense of self-worth, individual worth, and self-esteem in order to take this autonomous step, and he stated that our culture does not make it easy for our teens to take this step in life.

Adolescence, according to Watson and Lindgren (1979), is the period or stage of development that occurs between childhood and puberty.

adulthood. They also stated that it is difficult to define a teenager’s boundaries; when does it begin and when does it end. They stated that the characteristics of a teenager begin to manifest themselves with subtle changes around the ages of 10, 11, or 12. It is most noticeable in adolescent behavior and appearance, when girls begin their menstrual cycle.

1.2 THE PROBLEM’S STATEMENT

According to Cunningham and Boult (1996), adolescent pregnancy has a slew of negative social consequences, including school dropout or interruption, criminal activity, abortion, ostracism, child neglect, difficulties with school adjustment for their children, adoption, lack of social security, poverty, repeated pregnancy, and negative effects on domestic life. School dropout is proposed as a “unusually

“predictive predictor” of adolescent pregnancy, acting as a precursor to becoming pregnant rather than as a result of becoming pregnant (Bonell et al, 2004). School difficulties can be explained in three ways: first, a strong dislike of school that leads to truancy, dropping out, or formal exclusion (Hosie, 2007); second, a lack of educational attainment (Hobcraft & Kiernan, 1999); and third, low aspirations and expectations of the education system as being relevant for future employment (Hobcraft & Kiernan, 1999). (Hobcraft & Kiernan, 1999).

Hosie (2007) discovered that bullying by teachers or other students contributed to students’ dissatisfaction with school. Students who have poor attendance and dislike school prior to pregnancy receive a negative response from their schools and are less likely to continue their education than those who have previously had high attendance (Hosie,

According to Dilworth’s (2000) broad evidence analysis, young mothers are statistically poorer, have lower levels of education, and have fewer job opportunities than non-parenting adolescents. She discovered that the majority of teen pregnancy prevention studies concentrated on the negative aspects of teen parenthood. It is also suggested that there is a bidirectional relationship between adolescent pregnancy and schooling. Pregnant teenagers are more likely to drop out, and pregnant teenagers are more likely to drop out.

1.3 THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVES

The primary goal of this study is to investigate adolescent pregnancy and its impact on adolescent educational development. Other objectives of this study include, but are not limited to:

i. Determine the prevalence of adolescent pregnancy

in secondary schools in Nigeria.

ii. To determine whether teenage pregnancy affects the academic performance of Nigerian students.

iii. To investigate the factors that influence adolescent pregnancy in Nigerian secondary schools.

iv. To identify approaches to addressing teenage pregnancy.

v. To investigate the factors that influence adolescent pregnancy in Nigerian secondary schools.

1.4 QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH

This study will provide answers to the following research questions:

i. To what extent does adolescent pregnancy occur in Nigerian secondary schools?

ii. Does teenage pregnancy have an impact on Nigerian students’ academic performance?

iii. What factors influence adolescent pregnancy in Nigerian secondary schools?

iv. What strategies can be used to combat adolescent pregnancy?

v. What are the consequences?

What factors influence adolescent pregnancy in Nigerian secondary schools?

1.5 THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE

Teenage pregnancy has been a major source of concern not only for Lagos’s teenage females, but for the entire country. This research could be a game changer in raising awareness of adolescent pregnancy in the Alimosho Local Government Area. The study’s findings may help policymakers, specifically educational planners in Lagos State, develop more relevant teen pregnancy educational programs.

The findings of the study could also help to raise awareness of some of the disorders associated with adolescent pregnancy, such as Vesico Virgina Fistular (VVF) and Rector Virgina Fistular (RVF) (RVF). Furthermore, the findings could lay the groundwork for future research on adolescent pregnancy.

1.6 STUDY OBJECTIVES

The primary focus of the research

The emphasis is on adolescent pregnancy and its impact on adolescent educational development. This study is specifically interested in determining the extent of teenage pregnancy occurrence in Nigerian secondary schools, determining whether teenage pregnancy has any effect on academic achievement of Nigerian students, and investigating the factors that influence teenage pregnancy in Nigerian secondary schools. This study is also interested in determining how to address teenage pregnancy and investigating the factors that influence teenage pregnancy in Nigerian secondary schools.

Students from selected secondary schools in Lagos State’s Alimosho Local Government Area will be enrolled in this study’s survey.

1.7 THE STUDY’S LIMITATIONS

As with any human endeavor, the researcher encountered minor setbacks.

while performing the study. Because there was a scarcity of literature on the subject due to the nature of the discourse, the researcher incurred additional financial expenses and spent additional time sourcing for relevant materials, literature, or information, as well as during the data collection process, which is why the researcher chose a small sample size. Furthermore, the researcher conducted this investigation in conjunction with other scholarly endeavors. Furthermore, because only a small number of respondents completed the research instrument, the findings cannot be generalized to other secondary schools outside the state. Regardless of the constraints encountered throughout the investigation, all aspects were minimized to ensure the best results and most productive research.

1.8 TERM DEFINITION

Teenage Pregnancy is a real thing. When a woman under the age of 20 becomes pregnant. It usually refers to teenagers aged 15 to 19. However, it can include girls as young as ten. It’s also known as adolescent pregnancy or teen pregnancy.