Young motherhood: levels and socioeconomic determinants of adolescent fertility in Ghana

Adolescent fertility levels have shown considerable improvements globally over the past decades. However, adolescent childbearing remains high in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This study, thus, examines the levels and socioeconomic factors associated with adolescent fertility in Ghana. The study drew on data from the 2003, 2008, to the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys to perform a logistic regression analysis of socioeconomic factors associated with adolescent fertility. The results show that adolescent childbearing levels have not shown any considerable improvements over the study periods (10%, 10%, and 11% for 2003, 2008, and 2014, respectively). Socioeconomic factors such as household wealth status, working status, employer status, and employment period were associated with adolescent fertility. Female adolescents from poor households, employed and self-employed adolescents, as well as regular workers, were linked to higher adolescent fertility risks. Older adolescents, and ever married adolescents also show significantly higher childbearing risks while the risk levels steadily increased over time. Promoting economic empowerment among female adolescents and targeting employed female adolescents in fertility control measures may have considerable positive implications for adolescent fertility levels in Ghana.

Prevalence, Trend And Determinants of Adolescent Childbearing In Burundi: A Multilevel Analysis of The 1987 To 2016-17 Burundi Demographic And Health Surveys Data.

Background: Very little is known about factors influencing adolescent childbearing despite an upward trend in adolescent childbearing prevalence in Burundi, and its perceived implications on the rapid population growth and ill-health of young mothers and their babies. To adress this gap, this study aimed to examine the prevalence, trends and determinants of adolescent childbearing in Burundi.Methods Secondary analyses of the 1987, 2010 and 2016-17 Burundi Demographic and Health Surveys (BDHS) data were conducted using STATA. Weighted samples of 731 (1987 BDHS), 2359 (2010 BDHS) and 3859 (2016-17BDHS) adolescent girls aged 15-19 years old were used for descriptive and trend analyses. Both bivariable and multivariable two-level logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the main factors associated with adolescent childbearing using only the 2016-17 BDHS data.Results The prevalence of adolescent childbearing increased from 5.9 % in 1987 to 8.3% in 2016/17. Factors such as adolescent girls aged 18-19 years old (aOR =5.85, 95% CI: 3.54 - 9.65, p<0.001), adolescent illiteracy (aOR=4.18, 95% CI: 1.88 - 9.30, p<0.001), living in poor communities (aOR=2.19, 95% CI: 1.03 - 4.64, p= 0.042), early marriage (aOR = 9.28, 95% CI: 3.11 - 27.65, p< 0.001), lack of knowledge of any contraceptive methods (aOR = 5.33, 95% CI: 1.48 - 19.16, p= 0.010), and non-use of modern contraceptive methods (aOR = 24.48, 95% CI: 9.80 - 61.14), p< 0.001) were associated with higher odds of adolescent childbearing. While factors such as living in the richest household index (aOR= 0.52, 95% IC: 0.45 - 0.87, p=0.00), living in West region (aOR= 0.26, 95%CI: 0.08 - 0.86, p= 0.027) or in South region (aOR= 0.31, 95% CI: 0.10 - 0.96, p= 0.041) were associated with lower odds of adolescent childbearing.Conclusion Our study found an upward trend in adolescent childbearing prevalence and there were significant variations in the odds of adolescent childbearing by some individual and community-level factors. School-and community-based intervention programs aimed at promoting girls’ education, improving socioeconomic status, knowledge and utilization of contraceptives and prevention of early marriage among adolescent girls is crucial to reduce adolescent childbearing in Burundi.

Hypertension in women: the role of adolescent childbearing

Background Adolescent childbearing is associated with various health risks to the mother and child, and potentially with adverse socioeconomic outcomes. However, little is known about the role of adolescent childbearing in maternal health outcomes in adulthood. This study investigates the link between childbirth in adolescence and later-life risk of hypertension among women in India. Methods We obtained nationally representative data on demographic and health outcomes for 442,845 women aged 25 to 49 from the India National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2015-16. We assessed the difference in hypertension prevalence between women who gave birth in adolescence (age 10 to 19) and those who did not, for the full sample and various sub-samples, using linear probability models with controls for individual characteristics, hypertension risk factors, and geographic fixed effects. Results Nearly 40% of the women in the sample gave birth in adolescence. The adjusted probability of being hypertensive in adulthood was 2.3 percentage points higher for this group compared to women who did not give childbirth in adolescence. This added probability was larger for women who gave birth earlier in adolescence (4.8 percentage points) and for women who gave birth more than once in adolescence (3.4 percentage points). Conclusions Adolescent childbearing was strongly associated with a higher probability of adult female hypertension in India. This finding illustrates the intertemporal relationship between health risk factors during the life cycle, informing the importance of addressing adverse early life events (e.g. child marriage and adolescent childbirth) for hypertension outcomes among women in India.

Adolescent childbearing in a Brazilian border municipality: the new mother’s profile

Background Adolescent childbearing is considered a public health problem, due to the often associated social impacts. Understanding the phenomenon is necessary to support intervention proposals aimed at reducing its incidence. Methods In this cross-sectional study we investigated all adolescent mothers living in Foz do Iguassu that gave birth in the 2013-2017 period. Data from a governmental database were used and descriptive analysis was performed. Results Between 2013 and 2017, 3,207 adolescent mothers gave birth to a live child, of which 135 aged 10 to 14 years and 3,072 aged 15 to 19 years. 51.3% of the mothers were white, and 22.1% had previous pregnancy experience. 68.4% had a vaginal delivery, and 80.6% had full-term pregnancies. Among the women aged 10 to 14 years, 57.8% started prenatal care in the first trimester and 47.4% had 7 or more prenatal consultations. Among women aged between 15 and 19 years, 73.7% started prenatal care in the first trimester and 53.4% had 7 or more prenatal consultations. Additionally, at least 49% of the adolescents were delayed in school. Conclusions In Foz do Iguassu, adolescent mothers are predominantly white. At least half are delayed in school, and more than 1 in 5 already had previous pregnancy experience. Parturients between 15 and 19 years old start prenatal earlier and attend more prenatal consultations than parturients aged 10 to 14 years. Prematurity is more frequent among adolescents. Key messages Adolescents receive poor prenatal care, especially the younger ones. Adolescent pregnancy is not a synonym to unintended pregnancy, and its relationship should be further investigated.

Sociodemographic Determinants of Adolescent Childbirths in Ghana: Results from a nationwide survey

Objective: To investigate the sociodemographic determinants of adolescent childbearing in Ghana.Methods: This research studied reproductive-aged women who were systematically sampled in Ghana. Kaplan Meier and Cox proportional hazard regression with shared frailty were fitted on a nationwide population-based data from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) to predict adolescent childbirth.Results: The analysis revealed that approximately 49% initiated childbirth during adolescence. This study found higher adolescent childbirth rates among women who were not working (adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) =1.17; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.07 to 1.29) and resided in rural areas (AHR =1.22; 95% CI = 1.09 to 1.37). In addition, poor women (AHR= 1.71; 95% CI = 1.49 to 1.95) and middle-class women (AHR=1.67; 95% CI = 1.48 to 1.88) had a higher likelihood of having adolescent birth compared to the rich. Lastly, secondary and higher educated women were 0.74 (95% CI= 0.67 to 0.82) and 0.10 (95% CI= 0.06 to 0.16) times less likely to have adolescent birth, respectively.Conclusions: This research revealed that adolescent childbearing was greatly influenced by socioeconomically disadvantaged background within the contexts of the women and the community in which they reside. This finding suggests the need to initiate and improve interventions that seek to reduce poverty among women and to promote and encourage adolescent girls to pursue secondary and higher education to help reduce unintended adolescent childbirths. Finally, adolescent girls should be empowered through counseling and education on reproductive and sexual health options and rights to ensure more informed decision-making about contraception.

The Risk Factors Associated With Early Age At First Birth Amongst Angolan Women: Evidence From The 2015-2016 Angola Demographic And Health Survey

Reducing adolescent childbearing has been a global priority since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. Age of a woman at first birth is significant in her life because motherhood involves a substantial commitment of time and resources, and it tends to set the stage within which other roles are assumed. There are consequences related to early age at first birth for both the mothers and the children. Data and Methods: The data used for analysis came from the 2015-2016 MIHS of Angola which was its first DHS. The 2015-2016 Angolan MIHS collected information from 14 379 women aged 15-49 years from 16 109 households. Women were asked questions around ages at which they gave births to their children. The Tarone-Ware test was used to test the equality of the survival functions. The Cox PH model was used to determine the factors that were associated with early age at first birth. Results and Conclusion: Results revealed that women who had their sexual intercourse at a young age (HR = 4.66; p < 0.001), women who never had a termination of pregnancy (HR = 1.22; p < 0.001), women who were never married (HR = 1.19; p < 0.001), women with no education (HR = 3.22; p < 0.001), women with primary education (HR = 5.08; p < 0.001), women with secondary education (HR = 5.06, p < 0.001), women of Christian religion (HR = 1.10; p = 0.035) and women who resided in informal houses (HR = 1.30; p < 0.001) were significantly associated with the risk of early age at first birth.

The Effects of Adolescent Childbearing on Literacy and Numeracy in Bangladesh, Malawi, and Zambia

Global investments in girls’ education have been motivated, in part, by an expectation that more-educated women will have smaller and healthier families. However, in many low- and middle-income countries, the timing of school dropout and first birth coincide, resulting in a rapid transition from the role of student to the role of mother for adolescent girls. Despite growing interest in the effects of pregnancy on levels of school dropout, researchers have largely overlooked the potential effect of adolescent childbearing on literacy and numeracy. We hypothesize that becoming a mother soon after leaving school may cause the deterioration of skills gained in school. Using longitudinal data from Bangladesh, Malawi, and Zambia, we test our hypothesis by estimating fixed-effects linear regression models to address the endogeneity in the relationship between childbearing and academic skills. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effects of adolescent childbearing on academic skills in low- and middle-income countries. Our results indicate that among those with low levels of grade attainment, first birth has a negative effect on English literacy and numeracy. Among those with higher levels of grade attainment, we find little evidence of effects of childbearing on academic skills. Childbearing also has little effect on local language literacy. Beyond the immediate loss of English literacy and numeracy, if these skills lead to better health and more economic productivity, then adolescent childbearing may have longer-term repercussions than previously understood. In addition to ongoing efforts to increase educational attainment and school quality in low- and middle-income countries, investments are needed to strengthen the academic skills of adolescent mothers to secure the demographic and economic promise of expanded education for girls and women.