Determinants of teenage pregnancy in Uganda: does exposure to family planning messages help?

Abstract

Teenage pregnancy is a serious population and reproductive health concern associated with maternal mortality, school drop-outs, and limited career opportunities. The study investigated the relationship between exposure to family planning messages and teenage pregnancy in Uganda. The analysis is based on secondary data with a weighted sample of 3292 never-married female teenagers 15-19 years from the Uganda Demographic Health Survey 2016 individual/women dataset. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson chi-square tests, and binary logistic regression model. The results showed that 7.5% of the never-married female teenagers had ever been pregnant at the time of the survey. The odds of teenage pregnancy were reduced among teenagers that obtained family planning messages through a newspaper/magazine compared to those who did not (OR=0.26). Higher odds of teenage pregnancy were evident among those that were; 19 years compared to those aged 15 years (OR=11.38); teenagers that had ever used contraceptives compared to those that had not used contraceptives (OR=4.48); heard family planning messages on the radio (OR=1.43) compared with those that had not. Based on the results, heard family planning messages from newspapers/magazines, heard family planning messages on radio, age, the use of contraceptives were significant determinants of teenage pregnancy in Uganda. This highlights the need for concerted efforts to combat teenage pregnancy through massive sensitization about the dangers of teenage pregnancy, policy enforcement and community leadership to prevent teenage pregnancy, and affirmative action to keep the girls at school.