Teenage Pregnancy and Its Associated Factors in Eastern Ethiopia: A Community-Based Study

Abstract

Background Teenage pregnancy is a global issue raising concerns for all who are interested in the health and well-being of young women and their children. It carries major health and social issues with unique medical and psychosocial consequences for both adolescents and society in general. This study aimed at assessing the prevalence and factors associated with teenage pregnancy in eastern Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted. Multi-stage simple random sampling procedure was used to select 2258 female teenagers. Interviewer-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were entered into EpiData and analyzed using stata software. The Poisson regression model with robust variance estimation was used to examine the association of the independent variable with teenage pregnancy. An adjusted prevalence ratio (APR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was reported. Results The prevalence of teenage pregnancy was 30.2% (95% CI: 28.3, 32.1). Age 16–17 years old (APR=7.05; 95% CI: 4.15,11.96), 17–18 years old (APR=9.85; 95% CI: 5.72,16.98), not being in school (APR=2.83; 95% CI: 1.93,4.16), lack of formal education (APR=1.11; 95% CI: 1.03,1.19), being married (APR=3.59; 95% CI: 2.83,4.56), parental divorce (APR=1.24; 95% CI: 1.08,1.42), having elder sister who had a history of teenage pregnancy (APR=1.11; 95% CI: 1.02,1.21), and not knowing fertile period in menstrual cycle (APR=1.31; 95% CI: 1.16,1.47) were independently associated with teenage pregnancy. Conclusion One in three teenagers had been pregnant. Age, not being in school, lack of formal education, being married, parental divorce, having an elder sister who had a history of teenage pregnancy, and not knowing fertile period during the menstrual cycles were the factors associated with teenage pregnancy. In Ethiopia, further efforts are required in the prevention of teenage pregnancy, keeping girls in school and strengthening the policy of delaying child marriage, particularly in rural areas.

Factors Associated with Pregnancy Among Filipino Women Aged 15-19: Results from the 2017 Philippine National Demographic and Health Survey

“…Age was found to be positively associated with teenage pregnancy, which has been consistent with previous research conducted in the Philippines and elsewhere (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23). This study also nds that certain religions lower the odds of teenage pregnancy; speci cally, adhering to Islam and Protestantism lower the odds of teenage pregnancy as compared to adherents of Roman Catholicism.…”

“…Moreover, age of respondent are also associated with teenage pregnancy (Table 2). Despite not having shown signi cant associations with the outcome in this analysis, religion and HIV knowledge will still be included in the multivariate analyses as these has been identi ed as determinants of the outcome in previous studies (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). b Common odds ratio representing increase in odds of teenage pregnancy per unit increase in the variable.…”

“…The tests for interaction are known for having low statistical power (41), which may explain the lack of joint effect between frequency of internet access and accessing contraceptive information via the internet. We were also unable to adjust for the effects of civil status and contraceptive use and intention, two known confounders in other studies (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24), due to issues in separation and/or autocorrelation.…”

“…A respondent is considered to have the outcome if she is either pregnant at the time of the interview, or has given birth at least once; otherwise, she will be considered as not having the outcome. Exposure variables include known determinants of teenage pregnancy include age, socio-economic status, educational attainment, contraceptive use, domicile, physical violence, marital status, religion, HIV knowledge, and access to various forms of media (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). In addition, we also consider the following as exposure variables: husband/partner's education level, whether it is justi able for a wife to ask husband to use condom if he has STI, and whether the respondent can ask partner to use condom, decision-maker for using contraception, reading about contraception in the internet, heard about family planning on radio, tv, newspaper/magazine, and text message, tobacco use, alcohol use, age of partner, number of lifetime sexual partners, and household size.…”

“…In other countries, studies on the determinants of teenage pregnancy have been conducted. Quantitative studies have found that age, contraceptive use, socio-economic status, physical violence, residence in rural areas, history of teenage pregnancy of mother and sister, lack of communication with parents on sexual health, and marital status have all been found to be associated with teenage pregnancy (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). In a qualitative study on the factors affecting teenage pregnancy in rural Lao PDR, liberal attitudes to pre-marital sexual intercourse, early marriage and pregnancy, incomplete knowledge of sexual and reproductive health, and limited access to appropriate services (22).…”