Factors associated with teenage pregnancy in Uganda. A case study of Northern Uganda
Abstract
The research that was carried out on the factors associated with teenage pregnancy in Uganda a
case study of Northern Uganda found out that this is a big concern in country today. The
researcher's main objective was to identify the factors associated with teenage pregnancy in
Northern Uganda.
This research was based on the UDHS data of 2016. The data was analyzed using STATA 15.
Analysis was done using 2 levels; univariate and bivariate. At univariate analysis, frequency
distributions were used to describe characteristics of the respondents in order to get the proportion
who are currently pregnant in Northern Uganda, while at bivariate level, cross tabulation and
Pearson's chi square (𝑋2 ) test were used to find out the relationship between teenage pregnancy
and independent variables (social, demographic and economic variables).
Results indicated that majority of respondents belonged to different religions including Catholics
and Anglicans (58%) and (24.3%) respectively, 86.3% were from rural areas. About 75.7% of
respondents were never in union, (79.7%) had primary education as their highest level of
education. Results indicated that age of respondent, age at first sex, marital status and wealth index
were associated with teenage pregnancy (p<0.05). Place of residence, level of education, religion
of the respondent and contraceptive knowledge had no significant association with teenage
pregnancy (p>0.05).
Therefore, girl child education should be improved in order to reduce teenage pregnancy focusing
on the girls who are more vulnerable. Re-enrollment of girls after should be encouraged so as to
reduce or delay sub-sequent pregnancies. Community based programmes that empower teenage
girls to protect themselves and enable them to continue their education if they become pregnant
while still at school and also should advocate for youth friendly health service.