Effects Of Cultural Beliefs On Teenage Pregnacy In some traditional societies, teenage pregnancy is accepted and even wished for by the society and it is part and parcel of the traditional normative programme. Therefore, in traditional Africa, fertility during adolescence is not a social problem. A demographic survey conducted in Kano, a city in the Northern part of Nigeria shows that 41 percent of girls had married by the age of 14, because it has been culturally accepted by the various members in the society and the norms and ethics are been followed for ages. According to Ford and Beach (1957), the Chewa of South America are examples of liberal culture. They have the belief that unless children begin early enough to engage in pre-marital sexuality, they will not have children later in life in this culture, older children with the full consent of their parents, build little huts some distance away from the village, playing as being husbands and wives. Such child�s play extends into young adulthood with periodic exchange of partners until marriage occurs. In Nigeria, which is a patriarchal society, women have few legal, economic or social rights and this includes rights over their own bodies. In some societies, marriage is been arranged by the parents, elders or chiefs. Young girls are often taken out of school to satisfy the cultural norms of childhood marriage. An NDHs survey found out that 19% of girls cited marriage as a reason for leaving school. Teenage pregnancy is seen as a means of maintaining chastity. One of the aspects of the social life that is seen as a contributing factor through cultural belief to teenage pregnancy is gender violence. This is defined as the act of force or coercion directed at individual women and perpetuating female subordination thereby enhancing pregnancy among teens. Parental Roles The family is the primary agent of socialization where the correct moral standards should be given to children. The home plays an interesting and domineering role in sexual socialization because it is within the context of the home, that is where one�s sexual and otherwise activities occurs (Akinboye, 1997). Parenting styles, where there is extreme permissiveness where adolescents are allowed to do what they like without control, there is more like close of deviant sexual behavior and teenage pregnancy are concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior. In many developing communities, parents still have a tremendous influence over their children despite eroding traditional values especially in urban centers. Consequently, parents bear the responsibility of meeting the reproductive health needs of their children. However, as reported by Briggs (1994), most parents or guardians do not discuss sexual matters with their daughters or wards because of shyness, ignorance or societal norms that do not encourage open mother with daughter discussion on sexual matters. In a study by Briggs, the view point of parents on reproductive health, specifically their attitude towards contraceptive use among sexually active adolescent daughters and general opinion on adolescent pregnancy was examined. The findings were quite interesting and reflect a trend that cut across different states and local government in Nigeria. It was discovered that many parents would prefer their adolescent daughter to complete their education rather than get married or become pregnant. However, about 14.9% individuals felt that teenage pregnancy had some advantages while others about 9.5% individuals felt that it should be discouraged, because it entails too many problems. The above views about teenage pregnancy are relevant to the roles parents are expected to play in matters of pregnancy. Although, according to Brigg�s findings, the revealed that most parents about 62.2% suspected their daughters of becoming sexually active and they still ignore it. 79.1% of parents are of the opinion that sexual active adolescent girls should not use contraceptives. Some of the reasons cited include: � Contraceptive kills � It promotes sexual promiscuity � They are concerned over fecundity In terms of parental roles, some teenagers lack adequate love, care and attention from their parents, who may not be concerned about the social and emotional aspect of their child. This in turn makes it difficult for the child to open up to the various activities encountered in their social life. The issues of teenage pregnancy seem to point to sexuality education as a major factor in reducing the incidence. The earlier parents stopped shying away from discussing sexual matters with their children, showing adequate love, care and attention to their children and provide adequate upbringing for a better society. Mass Media With the increasing media coverage of television programming computers with influential trends from internets, magazines, movies, pictorials, radio, mobile phones and even in commercials. A study conducted in 2006 found that adolescents who were more exposed to sexuality in the media were also more likely to engage in sexual activity themselves. According to Time, teens exposed to the most sexual content on TV are twice as likely as teens watching less of this material to become pregnant before reach age 26. An example is the popular MTV�s hit reality show �Teens mom and 16 and pregnant� there appears to be an increased and widespread controversy over the benefits or detriments cast upon teenage audiences viewing this type of pornography. The debate has grown up in popularity, creating interesting viewpoints from religious leaders, government officials and their family members affected by teenage pregnancy. The question is that, are the known and unknown effects of teenage pregnancy with its documented and far-reaching family, socio-economic and psychological effects, fully understood and taken into consideration by media producers such as MTV? The influence of pornography is great, this implies the display of sexy pictures on newspapers, magazines, video and stage shows for the purpose of sexual stimulation or to make money. This act reduces sex to the animalistic level. This type of exhibition encourages teenage girls and boys to try out what they have seen or heard and the results are the pregnancies and births for which the society and the young teenage are unprepared for. When most people view the eye-opening statistics regarding teenage pregnancy, a variety of emotional responses are produced such as feelings of shock, disbelief, joy, empathy, anger, shame, happiness and guilt and possibly even pre-conceived and stirred up biases can be triggered. In today�s media, television programmes, internet, magazines, pictorials, musical videos and even commercial are basically centered on love and sex, thereby enhancing sexual behavior occurring among adolescent in a bid of experiment what have been seen, read or practiced through the media (Fredrick, 1972). Therefore, movies should be restrained with more rigid viewer ratings, warning labels and theater ID checks, all these actions will help reducing young viewers being exposed sexually.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon