Socio-Demographic, Pregnancy and Birth Characteristics of Adolescent Mothers

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescence is considered the transition period from childhood to adulthood. Pregnancy at an early age is encountered for various reasons, along with the sexuality that begins in this period. Having a child at an early age carries a high risk for both mother and baby. Objective: This study was conducted to determine adolescent mothers' socio-demographic, pregnancy, and birth characteristics in Bartın province. Method: The study was conducted as cross-sectional and descriptive. 89 adolescent women who gave birth between August and December 2008 in Bartın province constituted the population. Data were collected through a survey created by the researchers in line with the literature. SPSS 15.0 package program was used to evaluate the data. Mean and percentage were used in statistical evaluation. Results: It was determined that 83% of the adolescent mothers, whose average age was 18, 3 ±0.73 years, were older adolescents, 15% had primary school education or lower, 98% were housewives and worked unpaid in family businesses, and 14% did not have any social security. While 54% of the mothers live in the nuclear family before marriage, 78% live in the extended family after marriage. It was observed that 52% of the adolescent mothers got married by escaping, and 87% had adolescent marriages. It was determined that most adolescent mothers did not receive any information about family planning methods before marriage and did not use pre-pregnancy family planning methods. It was observed that 65% of the adolescent mothers had health problems during their pregnancies, 21% of the babies born had health problems postpartum, 16% of the babies were prematüre, and 8.9% had low birth weight. Conclusion: Adolescent mothers should receive family planning information and counseling to prevent adolescent pregnancies, an essential maternal and child health risk group. In primary care studies, it is thought that the risks to maternal and infant health will be reduced by planning appropriate reproductive health services for adolescents.