Factors associated with adolescent pregnancy in rural Nigeria

Abstract

A community-based case-control study to determine the risk factors associated with adolescent pregnancy was conducted in the rural community of Gbongan in southwestern Nigeria. One hundred and thirty-two pregnant girls aged 20 years or less were compared with 131 nonpregnant girls of similar age. Information on their sociodemographic characteristics and those of their parents, their knowledge of reproductive health, and practice of contraception were obtained by household confidential interviews and by focus group discussions with parents and adolescents. Univariate analyses revealed a large number of potential risk factors, but after adjustment by logistic regression, only two factors remained significantly associated with pregnancy. These were being married (OR=9.8) and doing an income job as opposed to being an apprentice (OR=4.7). In turn, doing an income job was the only significant factor that predicted marriage in the logistic regression model (OR=1.5). Both pregnant and nonpregnant adolescents had poor knowledge of, and negative attitude toward, contraception, and only a small percentage of them had ever used contraceptives. We conclude that pregnancy among adolescents in this community is mostly associated with completion of formal education at an early age by the girls and to their lack of knowledge of reproductive health. Measures that could reduce the high rate of pregnancies among adolescents in rural Nigeria include (1) a program to encourage adolescents to continue formal and informal education, (2) reproductive health education and services for adolescents, and (3) appropriate legislation to discourage early marriage and pregnancy in the community.