Impact of Family Life and Sex Education on the Prevention of Teenage Pregnancy Among Secondary School Student in Lagos State

IMPACT OF FAMILY LIFE AND SEX EDUCATION ON THE PREVENTION OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENT IN LAGOS STATE

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

With the more relaxed sexual standards of modern times, teens are becoming sexually active at younger ages. Sex education, family life education and teenage pregnancies are concepts deeply linked with each other. The task of instructing adolescents about sex has been seen as the responsibility of the parents. But parent-child communication in sexual matters may be hindered by parental inhibitions or by various intergenerational tensions, and studies have shown that children rarely receive their first information on sexual matters from their parents (Encarta, 2007). The battle has always been between sex education and abstinence only. Some experts argue that abstinence education is the only way to prevent teenagers from having sex, while others insist that teenagers will have sex no matter what, and it is better for them to be equipped with solid educational information about sex. Such will enable them to limit HIV infections and prevent many unplanned teen pregnancies (Guttmacher Institute, 2008).

Pam Lehman (2008), stated that Sex and family life education becomes important to teens because, teen pregnancies are associated with serious health concerns for both mother and child. Complications of pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and low birth weight, birth defects and disabilities are more likely in teen pregnancies. In addition to physical health risks, teen parents generally have a less optimistic future than peers who are not teen parents. Long term effects for children of teen pregnancies include lower academic achievement, have less successful careers, and more likely to live in poverty and a tendency to become teen parents themselves. Kearney (2008) defines sex education as “involving a comprehensive course of action by the, calculated to bring about the socially desirable attitudes, practices and personal conduct on the part of children and adults, that will best protect the individual as a human and the family as a social institution”. Thomas (2010) distinguished sex education from sex information and described it as character education. It consists of instruction to develop understanding of the physical, mental, emotion, social, economic and psychological phase of human relationship. It includes more than anatomical and reproductive information and emphasized attitudes development and guidance relating to association between the sexes. It implies that man’s sexuality is integrated into his total life development as a healthy entity and a source of creative energy. Rubin and Kindend (2012) expressed that sex education is not merely a unit in reproduction and teaching how babies are conceived and born, it has a far richer scope and goal of helping the youngster incorporate sex most meaningfully into his present and future life, to provide him some basic understanding of virtually every aspect of sex by the time he reaches full maturity.

The problem of teenage pregnancy is considerably worse in Nigeria than in any other developing country. Among developing countries, Nigeria has one of the highest birth rates for women less than 20 years and Study suggested that the problem of teen pregnancy in Nigeria may be related to less sex education in schools and lower availability of birth control services and supplies to adolescents, Encarta (2007). Since sex education found its way into the Nigerian school system the emphasis has been impacting moral lesson and social value to secondary school students, although some have voiced out that sex education increases sexual activity Encarta (2007). Nigeria, cultural differences between the predominant Christian culture in the southern part and Muslim culture in the northern part of Nigeria has led to different patterns of teenage marriage and parenting. The crux of the matter is how a teenage girl is determined matured for the purpose of marriage. In some culture physical development may be used while in some others it may be economic sufficiency (Wikipedia, 2014).

In Lagos State, pre-marital sex is not encouraged culturally. The culture is in support of sanctity of sex but with the waves of civilization, that aspect of culture is gradually forgotten. It is however noted in the state today that there is increase in the rate at which teenager girls drop out of schools occasioned by mistimed pregnancy, increase in street hawking by teenagers of school ages, increase in reported cases of child abuse and abandonment, indiscipline and moral decadence, reported cases of sexual abuse, the growing concern over indiscriminate mention of sex related issues and early and unprotected sexual activity among the youth (Moronkola, & Fakeye, 2008).

Sex education has not yielded much success in Nigeria since its introduction in the secondary school curriculum as more adolescents get pregnant and drop out of school. .However, effective sex education programs can decrease sexual activity and increase contraceptive use among those already sexually active. They maintain a narrow focus on reducing specific sexual risk taking behaviours; provide accurate information about sexuality; build interpersonal and communication skills to resist sexual pressures; address both social and media influences on sexual behaviours, (Amazigo et al 2003). Therefore this study seeks to investigate the impact of family life and sex education to the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school pupils

Statement of the Problem   

In the world over today, child bearing among adolescents have increased in recent years, their behaviour is inevitably a reflection of adult social life, adults are direct models for teenagers and sexual stereotype are reinforced by the human behaviour that teenagers experience at home in particular, at school, on television, in books and in the society at large. It is generally portrayed and accepted by both sexes that girls are expected to become mothers and thus it is assumed that this is what they wish; but most teenagers who have children have limited education, limited job opportunities and limited choices for the future and a high degree of dependency.

The problem of lack of family life and sex education among the youths are quite numerous and disheartening. This particular situation is not only embarrassing to the society, but has also discourage most parents from taking active interest in the education of their female children, most especially in Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State. Among the problems listed are:  it leads the youths to develop irresponsible attitudes towards sexual behaviour, engaging in sexual act so early which causes a lot of damages to anatomical structure of female organs, and can leads to cervical cancer, that is sexual trauma. And other sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV / AIDs (Kirby 2001). It has also resulted to teenage pregnancies and unwanted babies which in process of looking for what to do lead to abortions. And this has persistently increases the maternal mortality rate in Nigeria. While some of the teenagers have to drop out from school due to shame or their parent refused to pay their tuition fees and were forced to marry. This study therefore seek to find out the impact of family life and sex education on the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state with reference to selected schools.

Purpose of the Study                                                                                                                                                                 The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of family life and sex education on the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state Other purpose of the study include to;

1. Examine the relationship between good communication skills among family members  and the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state
2. Explore the link between students’ knowledge of typical human development and the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state
3. Ascertain the relationship between sex education on abstinence and contraception use and the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state
4. Assess the relationship between the inclusion of sex education in schools and the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state

Research Questions

The following research questions will be answered during the course of this study:

1. Will good communication skills among family members have any influence on the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state?
2. Will students’ knowledge of typical human development have any influence on the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state?
3. Will sex education on abstinence and contraception use have any influence on the the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state?
4. Will the inclusion of sex education in secondary schools curriculum have any influence on the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state?

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses will be tested in the course of this study:

1. Good communication skills among family members will not have significant influence on the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state.
2. Students’ knowledge of typical human development will not have significant influence on the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state.
3. Sex education on abstinence and contraception usage will not have significant influence on the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state.
4. Inclusion of sex education in secondary schools curriculum will not have significant influence on the prevention of teenage pregnancy among secondary school student in Lagos state.

Significance of the Study

This study may reduce the risks of potentially negative outcomes from sexual behaviour, such as unwanted pregnancies and infections with sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and also to contribute to young people’s positive experience of their sexuality by enhancing the quality of their relationships and their ability to make informed decisions over their lifetime. This study may also help to know the importance of sex education and family life education in the prevention of teenage pregnancy

Finally, this study could also be useful to policy makers in understanding the various type of intervention to be adapted to different groups of adolescents in any intervention programmes that will be directed towards the prevention of teenage pregnancy.

Delimitation of the Study

This study will be delimited to the followings:

1. Descriptive research design
2. Ten (10) secondary schools in Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State, will provide sample for this study
3. Two hundred (200) students from ten schools in Lagos state.
4. Use of self-structured questionnaire for data gathering
5. Simple descriptive statistics frequency counts of percentages will be used in the presentation of demographic data
6. Inferential statistics of Chi-Square (x²) will be used to analyse the hypotheses which will be tested at 0.05 alpha level.

Limitation of the Study

The following challenges are likely to be encountered during the course of this study;

1. Inability of some of the respondents to read and understand the questions in the questionnaire.
2. Attempt by some of the respondents to answer the questions with untrue information.
3. Possible loss of some of the questionnaire.

The researcher therefore will try to overcome these challenges by using

Definition of Key Terms

Abstinence: Abstinence is a self-enforced restraint from indulging in sexual intercourse

Adolescent: A young person in the process of developing from a child into adulthood

Communication skills: The ability to convey information to another to another effectively and efficiently

Contraception: This means a method used to stop the union of sperm and egg cell so that no pregnancy or conception will occur.

Education: Is a way of impacting knowledge or giving intellectual or moral illustration and acquiring information

Family life education (FLE) is any effort to strengthen family life through education or support, and can include anything from teaching about relationships in schools to providing a parent’s day out.

Family: A family is a group of people who are related to each other

Genital Organs: These are organs of reproduction of both male and female parts.

Human development: is a lifelong process of physical, behavioural, cognitive, and emotional growth and change

Inclusion: To be added to something

Premarital Sex– Sexual intercourse engaged in by persons who are unmarried.

Prevention: To stop something from happening

Sex: the fact of being male or female

Sexual behaviour: These are sexual activities or practices, courtship and mating act, such as indiscriminate sex, multiple sex partners, pre mature sex.

Sexually: The sum of the structural and functional differences by which the male and female are distinguished

Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI):  are diseases that are transmitted through sexual intercourse or by sexual contact activity mostly with an infected person who has already been infected by virus.

Sex education:  act of acquiring information and forming attitude and belief about sex.

Sexual Intercourse– the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman, the man’s penis is inserted into the woman’s vagina and excited until orgasm and ejaculation.

Sexual Knowledge– exposure to and awareness of sexual act

Sexuality Active: This means looking at the relationship and examining why you want to have intercourse.

Teenage: Is a young person whose age falls within the range 13 and 19.

Unwanted pregnancy: pregnancy conceived when not ready for marriage or outside marriage.

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