Coping Abilities: The Role of Self Esteem and Self Efficacy among Pregnant Teenage Girls in Ibadan, Oyo State

Abstract

Studies have affirmed that the psycho-social vulnerabilities associated with first-time pregnancy can be further exaggerated when the primiparous mother is a teenager and unmarried at the time of (first) conception. Here we investigate the influence of self-esteem, self-efficacy and chronological age on the coping ability of pregnant teenagers in six randomly selected local government areas in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Sixty participants between the ages of 13-19, with a mean age of 16 from Ido, Akinyele, Ona-Ara, Egbeda, Oluyole and Lagelu LGAs of Ibadan metropolis were examined using a descriptive survey research design. Results show that self-efficacy has a significant main influence on coping abilities among teenage pregnant girls (F (1, 56) = 10.67, p < .05), and pregnant teenagers with high self-efficacy reported significantly higher coping abilities ( x=65.19) than those with low self-efficacy (x =59.28). However, self-esteem (f (1, 56) = 0.947, p > .05); and age at first conception at (t (58) = -.276, p > .05), were found to have no statistical significant influence on coping abilities among pregnant teenagers in this study. In that same pattern, there was no significant interaction influence of self-efficacy and self-esteem on coping abilities (F (1, 56) = 0.942, p > .05). The implication of these findings for policy and further studies are discussed in the light of reviewed literature.