Assessment of Teenage Pregnancy Predictors in Uganda

Abstract

The study focused on the assessment of teenage pregnancy predictors in Uganda. The main objective of this study was to investigate factors that influence teenage pregnancies in Uganda. The study was based on data from 4276 teenage girls that responded to the women's questionnaire in the 2016 UDHS. The sampling frame used was that of the Uganda National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) provided by UBOS. The study utilized descriptive statistics as measures of central tendency, correlation tests and logistic regression. The study revealed that knowledge of contraceptive use was significantly associated with teenage pregnancy where by teenage girls with knowledge of modern or local methods of contraception being more likely to get pregnant as compared to the reference group; marital status was also a significant predictor of teenage pregnancy where by girls that were married/living with a partner or had ever been married (widowed/divorced/separated) being more likely to get pregnant as compared to those that had never been in union. In addition to these predictors, household size was a significant predictor of teenage pregnancy in which teenagers hailing from smaller households less likely to become pregnant as compared to those from larger households. And lastly, age at first sex was also found to be significant where girls that had their first sexual encounter 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 predictors of teenage pregnancy; place of residence, education attainment, sex of household head and wealth index. To reduce teenage pregnancy, there is need to; educate parents/guardians on early marriages for their children, parents of girls from large families should be encouraged to pay more attention to their children, their friends and whatever they do, girls should be educated more on contraception, it's use side effects and the like and parents should always be keen and alert in regards to their children, monitoring them right from childhood.