WUNRN
'The
Influence of Early Sexual Debut and Sexual Violence on Adolescent Pregnancy: A
Matched Case-Control Study in Jamaica"
April 13, 2009
In
a new study of sexually experienced teenage girls in Jamaica, half reported
sexual coercion and nearly all pregnancies were unplanned.
Forty-nine per cent of 15-17-year-old girls in Kingston, who were
interviewed to identify risk factors for teen pregnancy, reported having
experienced sexual coercion or violence, while one-third stated that they had
been persuaded or forced to participate in their first sexual experience.
Though young women who had experienced sexual violence were not more likely
than those who had not to be pregnant, these alarming numbers reflect the
widespread prevalence of gender-based violence in Jamaica.
Unintended pregnancies
The study also found that 94 per cent of pregnant teens
interviewed reported that their pregnancies were unintended. These findings,
suggest author Joy Noel Baumgartner of the non-profit organisationFamily Health
International, demonstrate a strong need for increased education and services
for young people in Jamaica to help reduce the country's high rates of
unplanned teen pregnancy and gender-based violence.
Compared with their peers who had never been pregnant,
adolescents who were pregnant were more likely to have had a first sexual
partner who was at least five years older, to have low
self-esteem
and to believe contraception is solely a woman's responsibility.
Reduce pregnancy
To help reduce pregnancy risk, the author recommends that
programmes encourage teens to delay sex (if it is under their control) until
they find
a job
or finish school, as well as educate sexually active young women on more
reliable, hormonal contraceptive methods that can be used along with condoms.
The study, 'The Influence of Early Sexual Debut and Sexual Violence on Adolescent Pregnancy: A Matched Case-Control Study in Jamaica,' appears in the March 2009 issue of International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, formerly known as International Family Planning Perspectives.
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