Teenage Pregnancy
Authors Name: Megan Henry-Bramwell
Address: Port Antonio P.O.
Portland
SOCI2007: Survey Design Analysis
Course
Coordinator: Karima Mohammed
E-tutor:
Date: June 11, 2014
ABSTRACT
Teenage pregnancy refers to pregnancy of a woman between the ages of 13 – 19 years. It is commonly found among young people who suffervarious factors.
The purpose of this research was to determine the causes and effects of teenage pregnancy in the parish of Portland, Jamaica, and to seek possible solutions to solve the problem.
The research method used was a quantitative descriptive research approach as it emphasizes objectivity and uses systematic procedures to measure human behavior by using formal structured instrument when collecting dated from respondents. The population consisted of all pregnant teenagers attending the Women’s’ Centre in Portland and the simple random probability sampling was used to include one hundred (100) pregnant teenagers who satisfied the inclusion criteria. Data were collected through structured self-administered questionnaires. This method if data collection was appropriate since it collects quantitative date. It was esay to distribute and generalization could also be made based on the data collected and applied in this case to residents of Portland. Descriptive statistical data analysis was used. Ethical considerations were ensured.
The findings were classified as demographic data and revealed that there are many causes of teenage pregnancy, which have adverse effect on families within the society. Some of these causes were peer pressure, socio-economical factors, lack of discipline, the media, lack of knowledge about sex and low self-esteem.
The researcher recommended pregnancy prevention strategies based on the results. The strategies focused on sex education in primary and high schools, church and home, pregnancy prevention programmes, the use of contraceptive,...