Pregnancy Intentions among Adolescents and Yound Adults in Nigeria; A National Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

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.