Effects of some social factors upon pregnancy in adolescent
women
I. Blidaru (1), M. Roman (2), I. Caighera (2), R. Pleca (2)
(1)
-4th Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, “Gr. T. Popa” University of
Medicine and Pharmacy;
(2)
-Family Planning Unit, “Cuza-Voda” Maternity Hospital, Iasi, Romania.
Objectives. Pregnancy is a particular situation in the
life of a teenager woman. This study aims to evaluate the influence of some
social aspects on teenage women as determinant for their respective decisions of
maintaining pregnancy, seeking abortion or using a contraceptive method by
comparing adolescents within different social categories.
Materials and methods. The study was carried out in the
obstetric departments and Family Planning Unit from “Cuza Voda” Maternity
Hospital, Iasi, Romania, over a period of eight months. It included a group of
90 adolescents, aged between 14 and 19, compounded of 30 who had delivered, 30
who were preparing to have an early termination of pregnancy and 30 who were
already using contraceptive methods. An interview guide followed by a score
evaluation was used in all cases, as well as their statistical analysis using
Pearson Chi square.
Results. This study has assessed certain main social
features in the form of: social environment, family condition, marital status,
educational level, socio-economic conditions, employment and knowledge about
contraceptive methods. Our results pointed out to the existing interdependence
among the studied variables, except for the marital status aspect; the data was
confirmed by means of statistical significance. Hence, the social profile of the
teenage girl that delivered shows: rural location, unemployment, extreme poverty,
poor or no education, no contraceptive knowledge, broken homes; the social
profile of the teenage girl that seeks abortion showed: rural / urban location,
average socio-economic level, poor / higher education, some contraceptive
knowledge, complete families; the social profile of the teenage contraception
user showed: urban area, higher socio-economic and educational level,
contraception included, employee.
Conclusions. There is a tendency of decrease in the age
range at the sexual debut and first delivery, mainly in the rural areas and
among the extremely poor and uneducated people. Sexual and contraceptive
education seems to request a vigorous improvement, mainly in the rural zones.