Consequences of Teenage Pregnancies

Overview

The presented study on the consequences of teenage pregnancies in a large town describes from an interdiscip-linary aspect the spectrum of risk factors which influence the occurrence of early pregnancies, and their negativeimpact during the subsequent period. The authors submitted information on the position of families of teenagemothers in 1995 in Brno. In the investigation participated 283 primigravidae aged 14 to 19 years who were partof the Brno group of the ELSPAC (European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood) in Brno. As controlan identical group of 979 pregnant women aged 20 to 49 years was selected.The study revealed that early pregnancies are not only a mistake at the onset of sexual life. They are significantlyinfluenced by the lifestyle of the young women and their families. Projects of prevention of early pregnancytherefore cannot be based only on education of safe sex and planned parenthood. In that case they would not bevery effective.Complications and risk of pregnancy are distributed in a very differentiated way in the population of youngmothers. It was confirmed that certain medical complications are more frequent only in the age group under 17years where somatic development is not yet completed. The lower birth weight of neonates from teenage mothersis however within the physiological range.Psychosocial and sociocultural risks of adolescent pregnancies and motherhood are however more serious.Marriages of adolescent mothers break up more frequently, one third of the children of young mothers grow upduring the first three years practically without regular contact with their father.For some teenage mothers pregnancy involves the risk of not completing their professional training. In thisrespect secondary school students and graduates are most affected. None of the investigated girls started university.As a result of the variability of teenage mothers as regards the extent and type of risk they must face, the authorsrecommend the creation of partial closely focused socio-medical programmes for selected groups of young mothers.

Key words:
adolescence, pregnancy, consequences