Adolescence is a period in the life cycle during which females experience major
transitions characterized by phyical, psychological, emotional and sexually changes
(United Nations, 2013). During this period, adolescents seek new identities and
explore their sexuality which sometimes lead to unplanned pregnancy and
childbearing or marriage. These challenges are common in many sub-Saharan
African countries including Malawi. The objectives of the study were therefore to
estimate the prevalence and identify significant predictors of adolescent fertility
(women aged 15-19 years of age) in Malawi. The study used cross-sectional data
obtained from the 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS). The chisquare
statistic was used to examine the differentials of fertility by sociodemographic
characteristics of the adolescents and and the Poisson Regression
was used to identify the significant predictors of the same.
The results show that the prevalence of adolescent fertility in Malawi, with TFR of
2.3, is high. Additionally, the median age of women at sexual debut was 16 years,
and marriage was also 16 years, which were comparatively low and could explain
the high adolescent fertility in Malawi. The study also found that apart from region
and ethnicity, all other nine socio-economic and demographic factors including
current age of women, educational attainment, type of residence, religion, working
status, wealth index, age at first intercourse, age at first marriage, and contraceptive
use were significantly associated with adolescent fertility at the bivariate analysis.
Furthermore, the multivariate results revealed that current age of women,
educational attainment (at primary level only), age at first intercourse, age at first
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marriage, and contraceptive use were significant predictors of adolescent fertility in
Malawi.
From the results, it can be concluded that adolescent fertility is prevalent and high in
Malawi, which could have serious negative health and socio-economic impact on
young women and their children. It is recommended that that policies and
programmes that could improve the situation of young women by empowering them
through education as a means to reducing adolescent marriages and fertility should
be continued in Malawi. Additionally, policies and regulations that could increase age
at sexual debut and first marriage should be put in place; interventions aimed at
delaying sexual activity, through encouraging virginity pledges and abstinence
education, should be developed and implemented; policies and programmes to
increase contraceptive knowledge and uptake by sexually active adolescent women
should be in place, especially in rural communities.