Sexual initiation and premarital childbearing in sub-Saharan Africa

Type Journal Article - Population Studies: A journal of demography
Title Sexual initiation and premarital childbearing in sub-Saharan Africa
Author(s)
Volume 48
Issue 1
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 1994
Page numbers 47-64
URL http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0032472031000147466
Abstract
Many studies have suggested that unmarried adolescent childbearing is becoming a social problem in many countries of sub-Saharan Africa, because it tends to lead to school drop-outs, illegal abortions, and child abandonment. To date, the motivations for adolescent childbearing remain poorly understood. One point of view is that unmarried adolescent childbearing results from a breakdown of social controls by the elders over young people. Others have argued that adolescent childbearing is a form of rational adaptation; a means to achieve a specific goal. For example, girls may choose to become pregnant if they believe that a pregnancy will lead to marriage. In this paper adolescent sexual activity and premarital childbearing in seven sub-Saharan African countries are examined with data from Demographic and Health Surveys. In a first section, the impact of socio-economic indicators on adolescent sexual and reproductive behaviour is examined; a subsequent section is focused on the motivation for different types of adolescent behaviour.

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