Conception, Pregnancy and Child Birth

Teenage Pregnancy and Health of Rural Women

Researches show that teenage girls suffer from various social and personal difficulties. Anxiety, depression, obsession, phobias, negative thoughts and poor self esteem is observed in them .Hypertension, lower genital tract infections, pre-mature delivery, caesarian section, iron deficiency and low birth babies are observed more in teen mothers ( PRAMS, 2002 ; Gupta, 1994). Teenage mothers are seen to be initiating breast feed late ( Yi Kung Park, 2003 ). They smile less, make poor eye contact, physical contact with infant than adult mother (Culp, 1988).  The present research aims to study whether similar problems are observed in the culture where teenage pregnancy is socially encouraged . Tools - To conduct the present study two standardized tools were used. The first one was Indian adoption of Goldberg’s General Health Questionnaire by Dr. Shiv Gautam, Madan Nizhawan and Preet Kamal (1987) and second one was Mental Health Inventory  by Dr. Jagdish and , Dr. A.K . Shrivastav . The main components of the tool were Positive Evaluation,  Perception of Reality,  Integration of Personality,  Autonomy ,Group oriented attitudes and  Environmental mastery .

Locale of study- The sample was selected from the Malsisar and Ghav villages of Hanumangarh districts of Rajasthan.

Sample selection-Purposive random sampling method was used to select 50 adolescent mothers who had infants below 1year of age .The age of mothers was from 14-18 years out of which 25 belonged to group A where the age of mother was between 14 to 16 years while rest 25 belonged to group B where the age of mother was 16 to 18 years.  The data was collected by door to door visit in search of relevant  sample.

Statistical analysis- The gathered data was coded, analyzed and the mean, SD, coefficient of correlation and  t-values were computed.

Hypothesis-

1. There would be significant difference between the general health of the adolescent mothers of the two groups i.e. group  A (14-16 years) and group B (16-18 years).

2. There would be difference between the mental health of the mother of the two groups i.e. group A  (14-16 years) and group B (16-18 years).

3. There would be significant correlation between the two variables i.e. General health and Mental health .

Results

Result shows that the mean value of general health  of  adolescent  mothers between 14 to 16 years is 39.40 and those of adolescent  mothers between 16 to 18 years is 38.12 which is significant at 0.05 level which proves that the hypothesis  is approved as supported by the study  of  Mankison (1995) which states that under developed  pelvis can lead to difficulty  in child birth but appropriate   medical care, psychological care  may lead to safe child birth at the age of 14 .Obstructed labor can lead to eclampsia, obstetric fistula, infant mortality and maternal death .For mothers in their late teenage, age itself is not a risk factor. Poor out come are associated more with socio economic status rather than biology.

It also highlights the comparison between the two group A (14-16 years)and group B (16-18 years) regarding the mental health and its dimensions on the basis of mean, SD and t-values.

Results show that mean of over all mental health of adolescent mother (14 to 16 years) is 121.28 and those of (16 -18 years ) is 126.80. The difference between the two groups is significant with the t-value of 2.256 at 0.05 level.

When six dimensions of mental health  i.e. Self evaluation, Perception of reality, Integration of personality, Autonomy,  Group oriented Attitude and  Environmental mastery are compared between the two groups  it was found  that although the overall mental health of the two groups was found to be different at 0.05 level of significance only the second dimension i.e. Perception to reality was found to be significantly different at 0.01 level of significance.

There was no correlation found between the general and mental health and its dimensions  but perception of reality and integration of personality are positively correlated where correlation coefficient is 0.479*, which is significant at 0.05 level. Similarly Group oriented attitude  and Perception of reality are negatively correlated wherecorrelation coefficient is 0.490**, which is significant at 0.01 level.

A positive correlation was found between general health and mental health where correlation was 0.538** which is significant at 0.01 level of significance.Correlation between integation of personality and general health found significant at  0.05 level of significance where correlation coefficient is 0.395* . Similarly General health and environmental mastery are positively  correlated where correlation coefficient is 0.447*, which is significant at 0.05 level.

Conclusions

The general health of the group A was found to be better than the group B, Supported by the study of Mackinson, 1995, But larger sample would give a clearer picture.

Teenage pregnancy reduces the chances of getting education, increases higher drop outs from school and also decreases the chances to get married ( Moor. et. al, 1993; The National Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy, 1997).

As supported by the study that the teenage mothers may feel  uncomfortable and rejected during this time. One fourth of mothers will have second baby within 24 months. The closely spaced repeated  births decreases with the educational level of women( Kalmus, 1994). She may feel social difficulties and psychological disturbances and emotionally sick ( Maggie, 1999).

There is evidence in US that with emotional support, good education and child care, the teenage mother can catch up by the age of 30 years with average outcomes of the age group and socio economic back ground. When we compare teenage mothers with other girls with similar socio- cultural profile, bad schooling experience and low educational aspirations, the differences in their life chances is negligible ( East, 2001).

The  study proves that when general health increases , mental health also increases and person suffering from any kind of physical ailment cannot be expected to be as rational as compared to a person with healthy body.

Overall a positive correlation was found between autonomy and general health, perception of reality and integration of personality With age perception of reality is more and clear which results in a complete integrated personality, Hence it is significant that in development of proper mental health age plays an important role . So teenager to become a mother is inappropriate.

Suggestions to prevent teen pregnancy-

1.   Education/ raising level of aspiration in women

2.   Mass instructions regarding drawbacks of teenage marriage/ pregnancy specially to female community

3.     Streamlining teen mothers / providing social support system

References

Culp, R.E., Appelbaum, M.I.,Osofsky, J.D.and Levy, J.A.( 1988)  Adolescents and older mothers: Comparison between prenatal, maternal variables and new born interactions. Infant and behavior development, vol.11, pp.353- 362. Consequences of teen prengnancy, htm. www. Pregnancy. Period .com

East, P.L.,Jacobson, L.J.(2001 ) The younger of teenage mothers :A  follow  up of their pregnancy risk. Developmental Psychology. Vol. 37(2), pp.254-264, Retrieved May 27, 2006.

Furstenberg, F.F., Levini, J.A.and Brooks Gunn, J.( 1990) The children of teenage  mothers:Patterns of early child bearing in two generation, Family Planning Perspectives, Vol, 22(2), pp.54-61.

Gupta, C.R.(1994), Anemia in pregnancy: A critical review, Indian Journal of Medical Research, Vol. 42, pp. 421.

Kalmuss, D.S., Namerow, P.B.(1994), Subsequent child bearing among teenage mothers ; The determinants of closely spaced second birth, Family Planning Perspectives, Vol, 26(4), pp.149-53, 159.

Lessware, Jonathan (2006), Pregnancy in teenage girls : All part of nature’s law, The Sccotsman, July, 13, 2006.

Males, Michael (2004), Teens and older partners, Resource centre for adolescent pregnancy prevention.

Maggie Gallagher(1999), Hollow victory of teen pregnancy, Conservative chronicle, http;//www: abanet.org/media/teen.html.

Makinson, C. (1985), The health consequences of teenage fertility, Family planning perspectives, Vol.17(3), pp 132-9.

Moore, Gold, E.M. (1993), Age at first child birth and later poverty, Journal of research on adolescence, Vol. 3, pp. 393-422.

Population Council (2006), Unexpected elements of adolescence in the developing, World population briefs, Jan., Vol. 12 (1).

The National Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy (2002), Not just another single issue : Teenage pregnancy prevention’s link to other critical social issues.

About the Author

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