The following are some of the consequence of teenage pregnancy in the society.
School Drop-out Rate
There is a lack of provision of school to facilitate resumption of teenage mothers education, and if she does resume, she is forced to leave her baby at home and discontinue breast feeding which may affect mother-child bonding.
Vulnerability to or participation in criminal activity
The young mother’s immaturity, social inexperience, and lack of child rearing skills have negative effects on her children. She and her children are more likely to become victims of crime such as prostitution, drug trafficking, and inappropriate sale of alcohol in hotels and club houses.
In countries where abortion on demand is not available, teenage pregnancy encourages illegal abortion with the attendant problems of pelvic infection and infertility. Some medical opinion recommends that legal abortion should be available to all pregnant teenagers age 16 years and younger.
Social ostracism for the mother may result in rejection by her family and peer group. Here children also suffer psychological consequences, e.g. not knowing who their father is, a lack of father-figure as a role model, and the trauma of the mother’s bad-luck and subsequent poverty. The boys suffer most from the absence of a father-figure and tend to develop a negative image of females which can lead to violence against women including rape in young adulthood.
Child Neglect and Abandonment
Children born to teenage mothers and often left to the care of ageing family members. They may be exposed to the violence of family life in the townships and may then accept violence as the only means to resolving problems. The growing number of street children in urban areas of developing countries may be connected to teenage pregnancies.
School adjustment difficulty for their children
Several studies have reported behaviour problems, lower IQs, and maladjustment in school for children born to teenage mother.
Pregnant teenagers are almost always trapped in a cycle of poverty. Even if they are employed at the time of becoming pregnant, they are often dismissed and then receive low maternal benefits to cover their needs with little or no education and no skills, she may be forced to prostitution as a means of support for herself and the child. Having multiple partners, places her at a greater risks for STD, including HIV/AIDS.
Repeat pregnancies before age of 21
Research shows that girls are more likely to get pregnant again especially if their first pregnancy occurred before age 16 years.
Haruna Magaji is a journalist, foreign policy expert and closet musician. He is a graduate of ABU Zaria and a member of the Nigerian union of journalists. JSA, as he is fondly called, resides in Suleja, Abuja. email him at - email@example.com