Antecedents of adolescent parenthood: a study of Bombo and Nairobi districts in Kenya
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Date
2011-08-15
Authors
Lodiaga, Mildred Jennifer A
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Abstract
The main objective of this study was to investigate factors that can explain high levels of adolescent parenthood in two districts in Kenya: Bondo and Nairobi. Nairobi represented an urban area while Bondo represented a rural environment.
The study is bawd on a sample of 533 adolescents. Of these 272 (51 percent) were females while 262 (49 percent) were males. Of this total of 533 informants, 296 were from Nairobi (55.5 per cent), the remaining 273 (44.5 per cent) were from Bondo. The study aimed at comparing identified behavioural factors of socio-cultural and socioeconomic nature that explain the differentials in adolescent childbearing by gender and urban-rural place of residence.
The target populations were adolescent females and males, in and out of school, with and without children, in and out of marital unions. The inclusion of male adolescents in the study of adolescent fertility was as a result of a number of factors one of them being the recognition of the important role adolescent males could play in understanding and preventing pregnancy and births among this population.
Information on adolescent reproductive behaviour was obtained using interview schedules, focus group discussions and observations. Data obtained were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to complement each other in explaining the individual and collective contributions of identified determinant factors.
The key findings from this study indicate that adolescent parenthood is a function of an array of factors and not a single behavioural phenomenon. The results further showed that parenting results from the interaction of a number of background factors and adolescent characteristics (referred to as antecedent factors) namely socio-cultural and socioeconomic factors as well as intermediate or proximate factors.
Fertility behaviour was found to be the results, first and foremost of adolescent characteristics; parental socioeconomic status; community reproductive values: norm and practices: and finally policy statements especially those that related to service provisions and management of young peoples' reproductive behaviours. Adolescent characteristics considered in this study were gender, place of residence, sex of the household head, number -of siblings, birth order, age at first sexual debut, level of education, employment status and level of income. These factors were found to separately and independently influence adolescent reproductive behaviour. Factors such as gender, level of education, employment status and parental socioeconomic status in their own right, were found to be significantly associated with parenting among young people.
This study has also highlighted the magnitude of adolescent parenthood in terms of proximate determinants, namely: marital status, health seeking behaviour, contraceptive use, coital frequency, pregnancy and abortion. Among these factors, four were found to directly or independently influence parenthood. It was further noted that the antecedent factors did influence fertility behaviour not only directly, but also through individual proximate variable as well as through a combination of these variables.
In addition, the factors in the larger society or community and policies, which either support or disapprove adolescent behaviour, did exert powerful additional influences on young people's reproductive behaviour. Factors such as parental and community values interacted in complex ways to reinforce the influence of adolescent characteristics and proximate factors on parenthood. Community values were those that reflected the social norms, beliefs and practices in the society in which the studied young people were raised. For instance, parenting was found to be the result of the characteristics of the family and those of the community in which they lived. The influence of cultural practices, norms and values explained the differentials in parenting by females and males in the sample; and they also accounted for rural and urban differences.
Furthermore, it was revealed that young people had their own `community' with specific values, practices and norms. What this seems to confirm is the existence of peer group culture. This context inadvertently influenced their reproductive behaviour and all these explained the differential reporting of, for example, abortion cases and live births, early involvement in coital activities and frequency of the same.
It was concluded that factors that explain adolescent premarital sexual indulgences resulting in increased number of child births include decline in the social institutions that traditionally ensured the transition to adulthood and management of sexual health; increased unprotected coital activity; their exposure to western values; inadequate information and access to health facilities and services; negative peer group influence; gender roles, social norms and economic conditions; permissiveness of parents and the community and patriarchal ideology in the country that disempowers young people, particularly girls from making effective use of contraceptive methods and sex negotiation skills to protect them.
It was therefore recommended:
• that any programme aimed at empowering adolescents to take charge of their sexuality needs, must take into account
the transformative role of education.
• that guidance and counselling be mounted to sensitize both girls and boys about the risks but also to accept and
respect each other as individuals and to underscore the importance of each others feelings and views about sexual
relations and decisions. Urban parents and guardians should as a matter of urgency be involved in monitoring and
counselling in matters concerning sexuality. They must in particular monitor their children's friends, what they see on
visual media as well as what they read in the print media.
• that alternative ways of controlling adolescent sexual and reproductive behaviour be identified. For instance, in the
absence of relatives, there is need to consider reaching out, informing and involving a diverse network of community
groups, for instance, influential stakeholders, including urban parents, religious and education institutions, community
leaders, medical professionals as well as young people. This was seen as critical to increasing community support in
these areas and their discussion of adolescent reproductive health
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Phd) in the Department of Geography; School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kenyatta University: HQ 759.64.L6 2009
Keywords
Teenage parents--Kenya--Bondo