Married Adolescent Women Research Articles

ASSESSING THE UTILIZATION OF MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH CARE AMONG MARRIED ADOLESCENT WOMEN: EVIDENCE FROM INDIA

This study explores the prevalence and factors associated with the utilization of maternal and child health care services among married adolescent women in India using the third round of the National Family Health Survey (2005-06). The findings suggest that the utilization of maternal and child health care services among adolescent women is far from satisfactory in India. A little over 10% of adolescent women utilized antenatal care, about 50% utilized safe delivery services and about 41% of the children of adolescent women received full immunization. Large differences by urban-rural residence, educational attainment, religion, economic status and region were evident. Both gross effect and fixed effect binary logit models yielded statistically significant socioeconomic and demographic factors. Women's education, wealth quintile and region are the most important determinants for the utilization of maternal and child health care services. Health care programmes should focus more on educating adolescents, providing financial support, creating awareness and counselling households with married adolescent women. Moreover, there should be substantial financial assistance for the provision of delivery and child care for married women below the age of 19 years.

"Who am I? Where am I?" Experiences of married young women in a slum in Islamabad, Pakistan

BackgroundIn Pakistan, 16% of the women aged 15–19 years are married. Many get married shortly after they attain menarche. This study explores the preparedness for and actual experiences of married life (inter-spousal relationship, sexual activity and pregnancy) among adolescent women.MethodsAmong married adolescent women residing in a slum of Islamabad ten were selected with the help of a community health worker and interviewed qualitatively till saturation was reached. They were interviewed three times at different occasions. Narrative structuring was used to explore how the participants represented their background, social situation, decision making and spousal communication and how they explained, understood and managed married life and bore children.ResultsTwo categories identifying the respondents as either submissive-accepting or submissive-victims emerged. The married young women who belonged to the accepting group lived under compromised conditions but described themselves as satisfied with their situation. They were older than the other group identifying themselves as victims. However, none of the respondents felt prepared for marriage. Women belonging to the victimized group experienced physical and verbal abuse for their inability to cope with the duties of a wife, caretaker of the home and bearer of children. Their situation was compounded by the power dynamics within the household.ConclusionKnowledge about sexuality could prepare them better for the future life and give them more control of their fertility. Adolescent development and life skills education need to be addressed at a national level. There is need for innovative interventions to reach out and provide support to young women in disadvantaged homes.

Knowledge and Use of Contraception among Currently Married Adolescent Women in India

This paper tries to examine the knowledge and practice of family planning methods among the currently married adolescent women (CMAW) in India. National Family Health Survey 1998-99 data have been used for the study. Even today 12 percent of CMAW do not have knowledge of any modern methods of contraception in the country. Age, education, place of residence, standard of living and husband's education plays a significant role in women having knowledge of all the modern methods of contraception. About 10 percent of CMAW are currently using contraception and there is constant increase in contraceptive use with the increase in number of living children, but its increase is much faster when women know all the modern methods of contraception. Living children and knowledge of contraception plays significant role in its use, besides that, exposure to mass media and husband wife communication plays significant role. There is a need to impart knowledge about all the family planning methods among the CMAW, so that it will help women to choose suitable and affordable method, enable couples to decide when to and whether to have child, and thereby facilitate fertility decline in the country.

Trends in Contraceptive Knowledge and Use Among Adolescent Married Women in Malawi

Trends in Contraceptive Knowledge and Use Among Adolescent Married Women in Malawi

Kal Dristi , Stolen Babies and ‘Blocked Uteruses’: Poverty and Infertility Anxieties among Married Adolescent Women Living in a Slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh

The paper is about the neglect of infertility and women's interests in the health policy of developing countries, and how this shapes married adolescent women's understandings and practices surrounding infertility. Ethnographic fieldwork among married adolescent girls, aged 15–19, was carried out in a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh from December 2001 to January 2003, including 50 in-depth interviews and eight case studies from 153 married adolescent girls, and observations and discussions with family and community members. There are newer understandings with the re-labelling of infertility from spirit world afflictions to something that is also attributed to family planning and ‘build up of fat’ in the uterus and stomach. Corrective practices range from not using or discontinuing a contraceptive method, dilatation and curettage (D&C) and visiting traditional healers. The absence of state services to address infertility concerns has implications for contraceptive use, with unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. Local beliefs continue to largely attribute the primary cause of infertility to the spirit world, but the emergence of newer infertility understandings reveal the influence of Western cultural beliefs (family planning campaigns, health practices influenced by biomedicine) and highlight the gender politics in the harsh environment of urban slums.

Durbolota (Weakness), Chinta Rog (Worry Illness), and Poverty: Explanations of White Discharge among Married Adolescent Women in an Urban Slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh

I carried out ethnographic fieldwork among 153 married adolescent girls, aged 15-19, in a Dhaka slum from December 2001 to January 2003, including 50 in-depth interviews and eight case studies. I also held discussions with family and community members. In this article, I focus on popular understandings of vaginal discharge being caused by durbolota (weakness) and chinta rog (worry illness), as mentioned by young women. Eighty-eight young women reported that they had experienced white discharge, blaming it on a number of factors such as stress and financial hardships, tensions in the household, marital instability, hunger anxiety, and reproductive burdens. For married adolescent women in the urban slum, white discharge has many levels of meaning linked to the broader social, political, and material inequalities in their everyday lives.

Reproductive health of married adolescent women in squatter areas in Alexandria, Egypt

Through a house-to-house survey, 455 married adolescent women (< 20 years) and 455 married women aged 20-45 years from squatter areas in Alexandria were interviewed. Determinants of early marriage were consanguinity, illiteracy and unawareness of reproductive health. Of the currently pregnant adolescents, 22% were receiving antenatal care compared with 40% of the older women. Family planning methods were currently being used by 39% of the adolescents and 63% of the older wives. Determinants of non-use were: adolescence, illiteracy and previous miscarriage/stillbirth. There is a need to increase public awareness of reproductive health and change the behaviour of both groups of women in this under-privileged sector.

Adolescent contraceptive use and its determinants in Bangladesh: Evidence from Bangladesh Fertility Survey 1989

This study is concerned with contraceptive use among the currently married adolescents in Bangladesh utilizing the 1989 Bangladesh Fertility Survey (BFS) data. The study analyzes the factors affecting the current use of contraception among the adolescents through bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The results indicate that although adolescents have almost universal knowledge about contraceptive methods, only 15 percent are currently using any method of contraception. The corresponding figures for the adults and for the nation as a whole are 34.4 percent and 31.4 percent, respectively. Among the individual methods currently used by the adolescents, the pill appears as the most popular method, followed by safe period. A substantial proportion of the adolescents were found to rely on the traditional methods of contraception. Among the socio-economic variables (as revealed by the logistic regression analysis), respondents' education, participation in the family planning decision, visit by family planning workers, region of residence, husband's occupation and possession of electricity in the household appear as the most significant factors determining the current use of contraception among the adolescents.

Anthropometric Assessment for Adolescent Pregnancy: A Descriptive Study on Married Adolescents in Bangladesh

Background: Adolescent childbearing has emerged as a major concern in Bangladesh due to its shorter term adverse effects on both the mothers and babies born to adolescent mothers. Bangladesh is one of the vulnerable countries in the world and the most vulnerable country in South Asian region regarding early motherhood risks. Most of the adolescents pelvis is not mature enough for childbirth and malnutrition may stunt normal growth of adolescent women. But a greater proportion of currently married adolescent women want a child very soon. Hence it is needed to assess adolescent women’s physical and nutritional status for making future pregnancy outcomes safer. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the physical and nutritional status of married adolescent women for pregnancy by calculating prevalence of low weight, low height, stunting and thinness. Methodology: For assessing pre-pregnancy physical and nutritional status of married adolescent women, data extracted from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS)–2004. Based on fundamental anthropometric variables (weight and height), stunting and thinness profile of study population has been prepared. Also, group mean of weight and height, prevalence of low weight (&lt;45kg) and low height (&lt;145 cm) have been calculated. Results: Adolescent women, on average, are at vulnerable for childbirth regarding their weight in the study results. For instance, more than 64% of married non-pregnant adolescent women’s weights are less than 45 kg and more than 15% of married non-pregnant adolescent women belong to height less than 145 cm in Bangladesh. It is also estimated that more than 16% and around 50% of married non-pregnant adolescent women were thin and stunted respectively in Bangladesh. Conclusion: Since early childbearing is a social norm in Bangladesh and many of married adolescent women are not physically fit for pregnancy, so it is necessary to encourage married adolescent women to delay childbearing through community education and by encouraging them to use family planning services. It should be necessary to pay special emphasizes for improving adolescent women’s nutritional status through the country’s Health, Nutrition and Population Sector Program or through National Nutrition Program (NNP). Keywords: Adolescent; Bangladesh; Pregnancy; Stunting; Thinness DOI: 10.3126/jnps.v30i3.3918J Nep Paedtr Soc 2010;30(3):154-159