Factors Predisposing to Teenage Pregnancy among Female Secondary School Students in Southwest, Nigeria

Background: Adolescent females are amongst the most vulnerable age groups and are at risk of sexual, psychological, physical, mental and social problems. This coupled with increase in their sexual awareness, biological changes associated with puberty and tendency to explore and experiment their sexuality could result in high burden of reproductive health problems including teenage pregnancy. Adolescent pregnancies have a long-lasting impact on the physical and mental health, education, and livelihood of young women, men, and their families. Methodology: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study, carried out among 270 in-school female adolescents in selected secondary schools in Lagos, Nigeria. A self-administered questionnaire was used to elicit the variables of interest, supervised by trained research assistants. The data collected were analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 15.80±1.12 years. 59.3% of the respondents had poor knowledge on teenage pregnancy which showed statistical significance (P<0.000) when correlated with sexual intercourse. 13.7% of the respondents had had coitus, with the average age of coitarche being 15 years. There was a high prevalence of multiple sexual partners and a high abortion rate in our study (40.5% and 80.4% respectively). Teenage pregnancy was related to lack of parenting, poverty, lack of sex education, lack of self-control and peer pressure especially from their partners. Conclusion: There is a need to increase knowledge on teenage pregnancy among female adolescents in senior secondary schools in southwest Nigeria.