The Incidence of Teenage Pregnancy in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the incidence of teenage pregnancy in Ekiti State. Two research hypotheses were formulated. The research design used for the study was the descriptive research design of the survey type. 120 pregnant teenagers aged between thirteen and nineteen years of age selected through purposive sampling technique formed the sample for this study. The samples were taken from five randomly selected Local Government Areas of Ekiti State. The research instrument used in this study was a self designed instrument titled “Questionnaire on Teenage Pregnancy”. Face and content validities of the instrument was determined by test experts and the reliability of the instrument was established at reliability value of 0.98 using the test re-test reliability method. The inferential statistical technique used for data analysis in this study was Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The study revealed that there was significant relationship between Parental Socio Economic Status and the involvement of teenagers in teenage pregnancy. It also found that significant relationship existed between the Media and the involvement of teenagers in teenage pregnancy in Ekiti State. Based on these findings it was recommended that parents should endeavour to provide the basic needs of their children adequately. It was recommended further that government should legislate against the indiscriminate advertisement of brands of contraceptives in our print and electronic media regulate and censor sex related programmes and movies. It is known that children who watch a lot of television develop more stereotypical sex role attitudes than those who watch only a little and therefore check the time their children spend watching television.

Keywords: Motherhood; Parental Socio-Economic Status; Media; Teenage Pregnancy; Incidence.

The Nigerian Journal of Guidance and Counselling Vol. 11 (1) 2006: pp. 25-33