PERCEIVED CONSEQUENCES OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY AMONG IN-SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN ILORIN METROPOLIS, KWARA STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

The issue of teenage pregnancy seems to be one of the problems facing not only Nigeria, but several other nations 
of the world which has significant consequences on female adolescents and can influence the psychosocial life of 
female child. Thus, the researcher investigates the consequences of teenage pregnancy among in-school 
adolescents in Ilorin Metropolis of Kwara State. Demographic variables of age and religious affiliation are 
considered. This research employed the descriptive survey research method design. 200 respondents were 
randomly selected across the selected schools. One research question was raised and two hypotheses generated 
to guide the conduct of the study. Data were collected using a researcher designed instrument questionnaire 
entitled “Consequences of Teenage Pregnancy Questionnaire (CTPQ). Content validity and reliability of the 
instrument were established. The reliability co-efficient of 0.73 was obtained. Data analysis was done using 
percentages, mean and Analysis of Variance; all hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level. The findings revealed 
that teenage pregnancy has great consequences on female in-school adolescents by disrupting her education, drop 
out from school, teenage death, low self-esteem, among others. It was also discovered that there was no significant 
difference on the consequences of teenage pregnancy on the basis of age and religion affiliations of the 
respondents. This signifies that the two hypotheses were not rejected. With the findings of the study, it was 
recommended that parents should take care of their female children, provide them with basic needs and equip 
them with reproductive health education in order to prevent them from engaging in risky sexual behaviour and 
teenage pregnancy, the school teachers and school counsellors should identify students with special sexuality 
needs and counsel them on that among others.