Factors Associated with Adolescent Pregnancy in A Rural District of Kalasin Province, Thailand
Keywords:
Adolescents pregnancy, Personal characteristics, Family characteristics, Peer characteristicsAbstract
Background: Adolescent pregnancy is a major health problem which affects not only health of the girl and her babies, but also hinders social and economic development both in the short and long term aspects.
Objective: To study factors associated with adolescent pregnancy.
Setting: Thakhantho district, Kalasin Province, Thailand
Material and Method: The case control study of 170 adolescent girls aged 10- 19 years old (75 cases and 75 controls). Cases and controls were matched by age and living nearby. Data was collected by self-administrated questionnaires during 1st June to 30th November 2013. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis (Pearson chi-squaretest, Fischer’s exact test, and Mann Whitney U test), and multiple logistic regression analysis. The statistical significance was set at p-value < 0.05.
Results: The results of bivariate analysis showed that factors which were significantly associated with adolescent pregnancy were age, education, occupation, parental marital status, having pregnant or married friends, and high sexual risk behavior. On the other hand, knowledge about sex, attitude towards sex, and levels of friend’s acceptance had no statistically significant association with adolescent pregnancy. When multiple logistic regression analysis was applied, factors which still had significant association with adolescent pregnancy included occupation (other than student) (OR = 3.0, 95%CI 1.4 - 6.6), parental marital status (separated or divorced) (OR = 3.5, 95%CI 1.3 - 9.1), and having pregnant friends (OR = 2.9, 95%CI 1.1 - 7.9).
Conclusion: Adolescent pregnancy is associated with interrelated multidisciplinary factors. Delaying adolescent marriage, maintaining adolescent studying in school, and increasing family attachment could reduce the rate of adolescent pregnancy.
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Copyright (c) 2015 By the authors. Licensee RMJ, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
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