Pregnancy Intentions among Adolescents and Yound Adults in Nigeria; A National Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study
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Background: An increase in sexual activity among
teenagers and adolescents is a trend all over the world;
two to five of ten adolescents have had sexual
intercourse as early as 14-18 years of age.
Adolescents’ pregnancy are most times assumed to
be unintentional. However, these assumptions may
not always be applicable as there may be other
situations that could propel an intentional act of getting
pregnant at a very young age. The objectives of this
study are to determine the prevalence of unwanted
pregnancy among adolescents, factors associated
with pregnancy among them and to determine the
pregnancy intentions of adolescents and young adults
in Nigeria.
Methodology: This study is a secondary analysis of
data from the Nigeria’s 2018 National Demographic
and Health Survey. The sample for 2018 NDHS was
a stratified sample carried out in two stages; the
occurrence of pregnancy and pregnancy intention,
alongside the explanatory variables across fertility
intention was reported their percentages. Chi-square
and Fisher’s exact test at 95% confidence interval
was used to test association between categorical
outcomes and explanatory variables from the data.
The level of significance was set at 0.05, and
multivariate analysis was performed using binary
logistics analysis.
Results: Pregnancy among adolescent and young
adults aged 15-24 years in Nigeria was 40%. The
binary logistics regression revealed that age
(OR=1.55,p=0.002), level of education (OR=
0.51,p=<0.001), religious beliefs (OR=4.30,p=<0.001),
marital status (OR=7.74,p=<0.001) and women who
have ever delayed or avoided a pregnancy (OR= 0.59,
p= <0.001) had significant association with the
intention of pregnancy. More so, higher odds of
intended pregnancy were seen among women in the
North Western region (OR=2.54,p=<0.001) and
lowest among women in the South-South region
(OR= 0.40, p= <0.001) and South-Western region
(OR=0.64, p= <0.001).
Conclusion: Therefore, adolescent pregnancy in
Nigeria is still at an alarming frequency. Some basic
socio-economic factors have an association with
pregnancy occurrence and the intention to get
pregnant among the study population.
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