Parental Involvement In Teenage Pregnancy Prevention: A Study Of Nyatike Sub-County, Migori County- Kenya

Abstract

Teenage pregnancy is a global public health problem with medical, psychological, social and demographic implications most of which negatively affect the future of teenage girls. In view of this, teenage pregnancy has become a major policy concern for many countries worldwide, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa which has the highest number of teenage births. Teenage pregnancy however, still remain high in Kenya as well as other countries in Africa and other parts of the world despite the implementation of prevention interventions targeting comprehensive sex education in schools and access to birth control methods in the health facilities. Studies reveal that parental involvement is necessary for effective teenage pregnancy prevention due to the fact that parenting influence acquisition of behavior and social skills that shape the moral, self-discipline and responsibilities of young ones. This study sought to investigate parental involvement in teenage pregnancy prevention in Nyatike sub-county, Migori County, Kenya. The study sought to evaluate the extent to which parent-teen communication prevent teenage pregnancy. The target population was all parents of teenage girls, who had been residents in the study area for at least two years preceding data collection. Data was collected using a questionnaire that was administered to 138 parents. The study found that most parents, 66.67% were not comfortable when discussing sexuality issues with their girls. This translated to only 10.87% of the parents frequently discussing sex related issues with their children. Findings also revealed that most of the parents 49% were not very close with their daughters, and 62.32% parents felt that their teenage daughters were not open in sexuality discussions with them. The chi-square results also revealed that there was no association between parent-teen relational closeness, and discussion of sexuality issues (ᵪ 2 =0.344 at 2 df and P<0.05). However, there was a weak association between parental comfort and sexuality discussion (ᵪ 2 =11.547 at 1df and P>0.05 and Cramer’s V of 0.289). Similarly, teenage girls’ openness was also associated with sexuality discussions at (ᵪ2 =8.9222 at 1df and P>0.05 and Cramer’s V of 0.254). The study therefore concluded that parental involvement in sexuality communication with their daughters is limited in the study area. The study recommends that the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection through Childrens’ Department should undertake parent-teen communication workshops in the study area to improve the quality of parent-teen communication on sexuality issues.