Factors associated with teenage pregnancy in Uganda, a case study of Eastern region

Abstract

The study focused on the assessment of factors associated with teenage pregnancy in Eastern Uganda. The specific objective of the study included; analyzing the association between demographic factors and teenage pregnancy, assessing the association between socio-economic factors and teenage pregnancy. The study was based on 2016 UDHS. The sampling frame used was that of the Uganda National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) provided by UBOS. The study revealed that marital status was a significant factor of teenage pregnancy where by girls that were married being more likely to get pregnant as compared to those that had never been in union. In addition, wealth index was a significant factor of teenage pregnancy in which teenagers hailing from poor household were more likely to become pregnant as compared to those from rich households. And lastly, age at first sex and age at first cohabitation were also found to be significant where girls that had their first sexual encounter and cohabiting at an older age in their adolescence being more likely to get pregnant compared to those that had theirs at earlier teen years. The following were not significant factors of teenage pregnancy that is to say religion, education and place of residence. The researcher recommends programmes aimed at sensitizing communities, households and teenagers themselves on behaviour change leading to delayed entry into marital unions, creation of employment opportunities for poor household should be emphasized in order to reduce the rate of poverty and regional differences observed in rural and urban the researcher suggested interventions for behavioral change like girl child education to be implemented.