Transcript Teenage Pregnancy - schoolnet.gov.mt

Teenage Pregnancy
Dr Angela Abela
Chair
National Family Commission
Some Data
Age of mother
Year 1999
No of babies
born
15 years
16
8
23
Year 2004
No of babies
born
16
30
17
18
40
41
40
47
19
20
42
42
54
74
Some Comments
• As the girls grow older, the number of
those becoming pregnant increases
• 23.3% of all births of women between 17
and 24 are out of wedlock
• Is this a case of teenage pregnancy?
• Or is it an increasing tolerance for children
out of wedlock?
• Why is this happening?
Predisposing Factors for teenage
pregnancy 0-18
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Living with a single parent
Mothers with an adolescent pregnancy
Having older sexually active siblings
Having pregnant/parenting teenage sisters
In a lower SES family
Being a victim of sexual, physical or emotional
abuse
• Living in stress, depression and conflict at home
Difficulties in their relations outside
the family
• More submissive and exhibit poorer
interpersonal communication abilities
• Partners tend to be 2 to 4 years older, with
low educational achievment
• Residing in disorganised/dangerous
neighborhood
School Context
• Lower levels of education
• Lower educational aspirations &
performance
• Higher levels of school dropout
What decreases the risk?
• Parent-child closeness or connectedness
not intrusiveness or control
• Parental supervision
• Parents’values against teen intercourse
(Miller, 2002)
Who is more likely to abort?
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Those who are more educationally ambitious
From higher socioeconomic backgrounds
Are from less religious families
Have parents and peers who support abortion
(Hofferth & Hayes,1987)
Last year, In Malta 63 were reported to have had
an abortion in UK alone. Most go to Italy.
The Maltese Experience
• Initial reactions
• Disclosing the pregnancy
• Deciding what to do with the baby
• The importance of family support
read from Dissertation by Graziella Zammit p.33
The Boys
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Often forgotten
A research gap
Who are they?
Research shows that they have a very
similar profile to the girls.
• Read from dissertation page 53,54 & 56
The Way Forward
• More research regarding the Maltese Context in
order for us to be able to formulate effective
policies.
Eg Richardson (2001) from Ireland reports:
1. the understanding and use of contraception
prior to their pregnancy was limited
Is the case in Malta?
2. for those who had received sex education in
school over half of them felt it was of no value to
them.
Again what about the situation here in Malta?
• Mahon et al 1998
1.Young women felt they would be stigmatised for
being sexually active in the eyes of their
parents,doctor or authority figure if they
approached them concerning contraceptives
and therefore were making decisions about its
use on the basis of what method carried least
risk of discovery by their parents.
2. Also adolescents tend to be impulsive and
engage in risky behaviour.
Why are Maltese adolescents not making more
use of contraceptives?
For some young girls their life experiences
of school alienation, unemployment and
lack of career prospects make them view
early parenthood as less problematic
(Luker, 1996)
Is this the case in Malta for the older girls?