Induced abortion should be freely available as part of the strategy to prevent unwanted pregnancy and particularly to reduce teenage maternities. The service is an important public health measure and should be easily accessible to all women, especially those who live in socially deprived communities. In the short-term abortion rates may rise and this should be seen as a positive outcome of the ...

Experimental designs are said to be the approach for obtaining information about causal relationships (Robson, 1993), allowing researchers to assess the correlation (relationship) between one variable and another. A principle factor of such designs is that one element is manipulated by the researcher to see whether it has any impact upon another. The element being manipulated by researchers (e....

Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to review the available literature focusing on the areas of policy relating to teenage pregnancy under exploration in this thesis. Having presented the various trends in teenage pregnancy and related rates as well as associated and causal factors in the previous chapter, this chapter begins by providing further explanation as to why the three particul...

mother and her offspring include high rates of school dropout, low-birth-weight infants, poor health and poverty.4 In addition, teenage childbearing results in considerable financial costs to taxpayers and society.5 A significant amount of attention and energy has been devoted to the prevention of teenage pregnancy through, for example, school-based programs to increase condom use, sexuality ed...

BACKGROUND Although teenage pregnancies in South Africa have declined, the short and longer term health and social consequences are a potential public health concern. This longitudinal study aimed to describe the range of risk and protective factors for incident unwanted and unplanned pregnancies occurring over 2 years of follow-up among a cohort of adolescent women in the Eastern Cape, South A...

This article reviews the intersection between adolescent pregnancy and mental health. The research involving mental health risks for adolescent pregnancy and for parents who are teenagers are discussed. Depression and conduct disorder have emerged with the most attention. Research-based treatment of these disorders in adolescents is presented.

References 1 Baraitser P, Fettiplace R, Dolan F, et al. Quality, mainstream services with proactive and targeted outreach: a model of contraceptive service provision for young people. J Fam Reprod Health Care 2002; 28: 90–94. 2 Social Exclusion Unit. Report on teenage pregnancy. London: Department of Health, June 1999. 3 Family Planning Association. Putting sexual health on the agenda: listenin...

OBJECTIVES With age of marriage rising in Kenya, the period between onset of puberty and first marriage has increased, resulting in higher rates of premarital sexual activity and pregnancy. We assessed the determinants of sexual activity and pregnancy among young unmarried women in urban Kenya. METHODS Baseline data from five urban areas in Kenya (Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Machakos, and Kakam...

BACKGROUND Teenage pregnancy still remains high in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), as well as in high-income countries (HIC). It is a major contributor to maternal and child morbidity and mortality rates. Furthermore, it has social consequences, such as perpetuating the cycle of poverty including early school dropout by the pregnant adolescent, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Fe...

Teenage pregnancy prevention programmes targeted at young women have received considerable attention from researchers and programme developers. However, to date, relatively limited information is available on preventing teenage fatherhood or improving outcomes for young fathers. A notable gap is concerned with understanding the forms of sexual health programmes that are most effective from the ...