Outcomes of Teenage Pregnancy in Selected Rural Communities of Akwa Ibom State

Teenage pregnancy is becoming rampant in the rural communities of Akwa Ibom State. From observation, most adolescent girls are becoming pregnant and are dropping out of school to become young mothers. Interrogation by the researchers revealed that a lot of the girls facing this problem are faced with poverty and in their quest to make a livelihood, they are exposed to sexual exploitation by men who took advantage of their vulnerability. However, the associated outcomes related to their plight were not adequately explored, which necessitated the emergence of this study. Based on this hindsight, this study examined the outcomes of teenage pregnancy in the selected rural communities of Akwa Ibom State. In-depth interview was used as a method of data collection. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 45 teenage pregnant girls (ages: 13 -19) from three local government areas (L.G.As) of the state for data collection. The local government areas were: Uruan, Oruk Anam, and Mbo respectively. The choice of only 45 respondents was influenced by the fact that the number of teenage pregnant girls in the selected LGAs was not known. So, the researchers purposively went for 45 respondents to conveniently conduct in-depth interviews with them. Findings from the study showed that: the main outcomes of teenage pregnancy in the rural communities of Akwa Ibom State are multivariate and are the same across all rural communities. Key among the outcomes were the act of dropping out of school, economic burden, anger/non-support from parents, lack of money, non-visitation of the hospital, non-taking of drugs recommended by the hospital, and no intention to birth babies in the hospital. Consequent upon these, it is recommended that there is a need for widespread sensitization on the dangers of engaging in unprotected sex in the rural communities of Akwa Ibom State. If possible a door-to-door campaign should be organized by the government and other relevant agencies to sensitize teenage girls and their partners on the need to use condoms and other contraceptives if they must engage in sexual intercourse; otherwise, they should abstain from it.