STEMMING THE TIDE OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN OGUN STATE THROUGH PEER EDUCATION

Abstract

Teenage pregnancy, which cuts across different states of Nigeria, is a pervasive social practice in today’s global societies. This paper investigates the contributions of peer education in curbing teenage pregnancy among secondary school students in the Edu-Agbara community, Ogun State, Nigeria. The study employed quantitative research that uses a questionnaire aimed at extracting data on the spread of teenage pregnancy, the issues surrounding it, and causes and effects on secondary school girls. This study is premised on Family Development theory as adopted for analysis and discussion on stemming the tide of teenage pregnancy. Findings revealed that on the Socioeconomic characteristics of parents’ perspectives, there are more of female parents (70%) than male parents (30%) residing in the Edu-Agbara community. Also revealed that most parents of 40% were single parents; 20% were divorcees aged between 18 – 25 years; while (and 38%) were low-income earners, with secondary school leaving certificates. It was observed that there were more female students in secondary schools like Edu-Agbara Community High School (60% females than males), Johntech School (47% females than males), NASDEC Royal Schools (63% females than males), and Graceland School (67% females than males). Hence, the paper recommends that parents and teachers should be concerned about the well-being of teenagers especially the girl child through education about sex and sexuality and the danger inherent.