ADOLESCENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY IN AGUATA EDUCATION ZONE OF ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated adolescents’ perceptions of causes and effects of teenage pregnancy in Aguata Education Zone of Anambra State. The study was guided by two research questions. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 6,750 senior secondary schools in Aguata Education Zone of Anambra State. Simple random sampling technique was used to draw 400 students as the sample for the study. A researcher-developed questionnaire titled ‘‘Causes and Effects of Teenage Pregnancy Questionnaire (CETPQ)’’ was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts who were lecturers in the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. The reliability of the instrument was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha which yielded an overall reliability of 0.79 for the instrument with coefficients for the clusters being 0.81 and 0.77 respectively. The researchers together with five research assistants collected data for the study and a 97 percent return rate of the instrument administered was recorded. Mean and standard deviation were used for data analysis. The findings of this study revealed among others that the adolescents’ perceptions of causes of teenage pregnancy in Aguata Education Zone of Anambra State included: poor knowledge of sex education, peer group influence, poor parental’ moral guidance, social media influence, inadequate moral instruction in schools and poor guidance and counselling services in schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that school principals should organize orientation programme to enlighten adolescents on sexual education.