Psychological and Social Effects of Pregnancy in Unmarried Young Women in Bui, Northwest, Cameroon

Rita Muso Fubam,Magbagbeola David Dairo,Akin-Tunde Ademola Odukogbe

doi:10.11648/j.ajbls.20190706.21

Abstract

Unmarried status has been associated with low psychological and social wellbeing among young pregnant women, who are very likely to have unintended pregnancies. The current study investigated the psychological and social effects of pregnancy in unmarried young women aged 15 to 24 years in Bui, Northwest Cameroon. It was a cross-sectional facility-based survey and one hundred and eighty-four unmarried young women in six health facilities who met the inclusion criteria were recruited. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered, semi-structured questionnaire and analysed with the aid of SPSS 21.0. Univariate analysis was done for frequencies, means and standard deviations while hypotheses were tested using Chi square test and logistic regression. P value was set at p< 0.05. More than half (52.2%) of respondents were aged 20 to 24 years, 54.3% had never used a contraceptive and 82.1% reported their pregnancy was unplanned. Over half (57.1%) of the respondents reported high levels of anxiety and depression related to their pregnancy, 57.6% had a high perception of stigma and discrimination and 61.8% stopped schooling after discovering they were pregnant. Multivariate analysis revealed that compared to those who wanted their pregnancy, those who did not want their pregnancy had higher odds of experiencing high levels of anxiety and depression (AOR 6.38, 95% CI 2.93-13.88, p=0.00). It also showed that those who were not in relationship with their baby’s father had higher odds of perceiving high levels of stigma and discrimination (AOR 2.22, 95% CI 1.07-4.62, p=0.03). In conclusion, policy makers should intensify efforts to prevent unintended pregnancy among young unmarried women. They should not concentrate all efforts toward preventing unsafe abortion due to unwanted pregnancy, but focus attention also on how to help young women who choose to keep their pregnancy. Adequate and multidisciplinary supervision and support during pregnancy, labour and postpartum period will help promote psychosocial wellbeing among this group. The male partners of pregnant young women should also be empowered to take responsibility.

Highlights

Sexual activity among young people remains high worldwide with high and increasing premarital sexual activities among them being documented in several studies in Sub-Saharan Africa [1,2,3]
The World Health Organization (WHO) Fact Sheet on Adolescent Pregnancy in 2014 estimated that 16 million births in low and middle-income countries were from adolescent girls many of which occurred in unmarried women and were unplanned [11]
The data obtained in this study indicate that there is a high prevalence of unintended pregnancy among young women who are unmarried which is associated with psychological distress in the form of anxiety and depression

Summary

Introduction

Sexual activity among young people remains high worldwide with high and increasing premarital sexual activities among them being documented in several studies in Sub-Saharan Africa [1,2,3]. There has been a decline in adolescent pregnancy rates across some regions of the world, they are still high in some countries and the proportion of births by unmarried adolescents is increasing in some countries [4]. The World Health Organization (WHO) Fact Sheet on Adolescent Pregnancy in 2014 estimated that 16 million births in low and middle-income countries were from adolescent girls many of which occurred in unmarried women and were unplanned [11]. According to the 2011 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey, close to three quarters (73.9%) of the 23.3% adolescent women population in Cameroon were single and sexually active with a low contraceptive prevalence rate (modern method) of only 12.2% [12]. Twelve percent of all births in Cameroon have been reported to be from adolescent mothers and a high proportion of single pregnant women have been reported in other studies [12,13,14]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion