A psycho-educational perspective on the phenomenon of adolescent pregnancy

[摘要] Adolescent pregnancy is a worldwide social problem. This causes a concern forhealth workers, the community, and the parents. This is true because adolescentsare too immature to shoulder the responsibility of pregnancy.Different methods of contraceptives are available, but most adolescents are notinterested in exploiting them. Various reasons why adolescents don't exploit suchopportunities were outlined (refer to §1.1). Parents on the other hand, are to beblamed because there is a saying that charity begins at home which means thatparents are the ones that must start to teach their children about sexuality issues.They are the ones who notice that the child has reached the stage ofwomanhood/manhood. This is the good time to inculcate the values of morality -what is acceptable and not acceptable. Yes, some parents indicate that the school isresponsible for teaching sexuality education, but if they have a good base from theirparents who are very close to them, then a lot of problems can be alleviated.The statement of the problem was outlined (refer to § 1.2) and questions raisedwere answered throughout the study. The literature review, and research programwere discussed. The study also dealt with the definition of terms that were frequentlyused throughout the paper.During the late eighteenth century, pregnancy among adolescents was rare. Intimacyduring courtship was not tolerated because courting couples often lived at a greatdistance from each other. During the later part of the eighteenth century, premaritalpregnancies and out of wedlock births began to rise because of the breakdown ofstable communities and fornication laws were abolished (refer to § 2.2.1.1).Adolescent pregnancy had an influence on the economy because public funds werespent on teenage childbearing. The money could have. been saved if pregnancy waspostponed. A lot of agencies spent a lot of money to provide for the services ofpregnant adolescents that could have been saved (refer to § 2.2.1.3).In African countries the problem of teenage pregnancy is not clearly recorded,because of early marriage. The adolescents get pregnant to prove their fertility and in\most cases their parents acknowledge this because the arrangements for marriagerun smoothly. The study showed that children of less than eighteen years were thenmarried (refer to § 2.3.1).The Zimbabwean Government allowed pregnant girls to continue with school aftergiving birth, with the aim of helping them to be educated. In South Africa, theConstitution states that everyone has the right to education. Principals andteachers are urged to assist pregnant adolescents with their studies. If pregnantadolescents study at home, they should be allowed to write their examinations. InSwaziland, pregnant adolescents are allowed to go back to school after giving birth,but they wear special uniforms marking them as teenage mothers (refer to § 2.3.1.1).The most crucial concerns of adolescent pregnancy was also outlined (refer to §chapter 3) - that is the causes and the effects of adolescent pregnancy. The studyoutlined how adolescents develop and discussed the physical changes that occur(refer to § 3.4.1). Adolescents must acquire knowledge and skills in order tocontinue to advance to a higher level of development. Failing which, this lead to pooradjustment and an inability to solve some of the later tasks. At the same timeadolescents have needs that need to be fulfilled. The reasons for being pregnantwere outlined (refer to § 3.3). Some become pregnant because they want tosubstitute the loss of their loved ones. For some, being pregnant is a masked form ofrebellion. The saying that history repeats itself is true. Some adolescents becomepregnant because they repeat the very mistakes of some of the family members.Most of them become pregnant because they want to be independent, live their ownlives and make their own decisions.Most of the pregnant adolescent girls end up being miserable and frustrated. Theirschool career is being disrupted, because most of them are poor and they don't havecaretakers for their babies. Most of them lack material, emotional and financialsupport.Pregnancy causes a disruption in families. The parents do not trust the adolescentgirl any longer and they worry that she will influence other sisters to becomepregnant. If adolescents become pregnant by mistake, they resort to abortion -which in some cases lead to bleeding, infections and future miscarriages.Adolescents have psychological problems like depression, fear, nightmares andanger. This affects the baby too. Some of the babies are abandoned or areneglected and maltreated. Most of the children because they are being cared byimmature parents they have lower birth weight or are abused somehow by theirparents. These children, in most cases, do not do well in intelligence tests and mayhave behavioural problems.The fathers are also affected (refer to § 3.6). They are often ignored, blamed forbeing irresponsible and not consulted in matters affecting their children. Some of thefathers, of course, do not want to be involved in the welfare of their children.In some cases, adolescent fathers do want to be involved, it is just that they are lessskilled and inexperienced. The father even if he works, he earns lower income -which is not enough to cater for the needs of the baby.Parents sometimes contributes to adolescent pregnancy (refer to § 3.7). Thishappens because if the family is disorganised, the children often make wrongdecisions, including engaging in early sexual activity. Parents can alleviate this byhaving open communication with their children. They have to tell the children abouttheir bodies, educating them about sexual matters and sexual development.Role models also contribute to adolescent pregnancy in that sometimes adolescentsenvies single parents who are well to do, who can afford everything their childrenwant (refer to § 3.8). Some adolescents fall in that trap. Some of these models aretheir own mothers who sustained them throughout the years. They become pregnanthoping to follow in the footsteps of their mothers. Peers can also cause adolescentpregnancy. They pressurize their friends to have babies if they want to be part of thegroup.Although the government issues free contraceptives, most adolescents do not wantto use them. This includes the condom that is advertised daily for men to use forsafer sex. The refusal to use contraceptives lead to a lot of sexually transmitteddiseases, including HIV/AIDS.There is a saying that prevention is better than cure. All health workers at healthcenters, parents, teachers and the society should join hands to alleviate the problemof adolescent pregnancy.This is important because adolescents are inexperienced; they need life-skilleducation which will help them to act responsibly (refer to § 4.1). Differentprogrammes that were used to help adolescent mothers to cope with the newsituation that they find themselves in were discussed.In most cases, the families were involved. Some programmes were designed for thesisters of adolescent mothers so as to influence them not to fall in the same trap.Other programmes were tailored in such a way that adolescents could continue withtheir education whilst at the same time caring for their babies.The study showed that sex education programs should be combined with schoolbasedhealth clinics so that the adolescents could receive information about sex,pregnancy and contraception. Some school districts have developed parentingeducation and child care programmes to encourage adolescents to stay in schooland to provide early learning experiences for the adolescents' babies so that theyshould be prepared for formal instruction when they enter kindergarten (refer to §4.5).

[发布机构] University of the Free State