Socio-cultural Determinants of Teenage Pregnancies in Transmara West, Narok County, Kenya

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2019 | ISSN 2321–2705

Socio-cultural Determinants of Teenage Pregnancies in Transmara West, Narok County, Kenya

Benard Mutai¹, Thomas Rono²

 ^1,2Department of Psychology, Counselling and Educational Foundations, Egerton University, Kenya

Abstract: There has been an upsurge of teenage girls getting pregnant in Narok County and specifically Transmara West with little or no efforts to combat the menace. The study was conducted in Transmara West to ascertain the socio-cultural determinants responsible for teenage pregnancy. A qualitative methodology was adopted with interview as the major method of data collection. Head teachers, village elders, religious leaders, teenage mothers and social workers were interviewed for the study. Purposive sampling was used. The study found that ignorance, marginalization, poor parenting and cultural practices were the major socio-cultural determinants of teenage pregnancies in the County.

Key words: socio-cultural; teenage-pregnancy, determinants

I. INTRODUCTION

Teenage pregnancies are becoming a national disaster in Kenya with some areas in the West and Coast having 1 in every 4 girls affected as per recent Kenya Demographic and Health Survey [1]. Studies on teenage sexual and reproductive health rights posit that teenage pregnancies pose serious health, psychosocial and economic dangers to the girls including thwarting their reproductive health including child birth, schooling and career growth, keeping them in vicious cycles of poverty (many come from already poor families), and overall limiting their capabilities, opportunities and choices..
In Kenya, nearly 18 percent of adolescent girls between aged of 15 and 19 are mothers [2]. The rates of teenage childbearing vary across Kenya. While progress has been made to decrease the numbers in some regions, in others it has remained alarmingly high. According to the World Health Organization [3] quotes a number of studies that look at the impact of early childbearing on pregnancy outcomes and child survival, with regards to health of teenage mothers and their infants, as well social and economic effects at the individual level, and societal level. Among others, the studies conclude that children born to adolescent mothers are at greater health and mortality risks than those born to older women. Early pregnancies are associated with significantly worse pre-natal health care and vaccination behaviour, leading to lower birth-weights and higher mortality. Adolescent mothers also have higher health risks and lower health outcomes. Pregnancy-related deaths are the leading cause of mortality for 15-19 year-old girls worldwide.

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