TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures:
1.Introduction 1
2.Research Methods
3.Results
3.1.Socio-Economic Chararcteristics of the selected UAMs their Parents
3.2.Daily Activities, Food Intake, and Child care
3.3.Reactions to Adolescent Pregnancy
3.4.Ante-natal/Post natal Cares
3.5.Childcare Practices and Family Planning Knowledge
3.6.The Control Group
3.7.Discussion of Study Propositions
4.Conclusions and Policy Recommendations4.1.Conclusions
4.2.Policy Recommendations
References:

LIST OF FIGURES
1.Transmission of Poverty: the Unmarried Adolescent Mothers and Their Children
2.Plans of UAMs if they had not been impregnated
3.The Stage of Pregnancy Before Becoming aware of Pregnancy
4.The Stage of Pregancy Before Starting Ante-Natal Clinic
5.Percentage Distribution of UAMs by Knowledge of Family Planning Method
6.UAM: Poverty Transmission Cycle Schema

1.INTRODUCTION

Poverty is believed to be concentrated among people with certain characteristics including low education, unstable employment/unemployment, low status job, low and unstable income, poor housing condition, large families, absence of savings, constant struggle for survival and absence of material possession. The major category of people vulnerable to poverty are women and children, majority of whom live in the rural areas, or migrants from rural areas with no skills, and thereby cannot fit into many of the urban jobs. In many cases, young girls, because of situation of poverty tend to engage in illicit affairs with older men. Urban poverty in Nigeria has been traced to a high rate of urbanization, accompanied with high rate of migration, population density, high rate of population growth, the unemployment, inflation and bad governance (such that urban centres in Nigeria generally lack basic social infrastructures to meet the needs of the teaming population).

On the whole, women and children are reportedly the worst hit by the prevailing economic crises which have resulted in erosion of the real purchasing power of the average Nigerian household. The present study presents the situation of unmarried parenthood as a causal factor of poverty, which can be heightened by the poverty background of both the unmarried adolescent mother and her child.

It has been documented that poverty is a significant factor in the exchange of sexual favours for material gains (Miller and Rockwell 1988; Orubuloye et al, 1992). It has been observed that girls from poor homes do not have access to health information (Hall, 1970). Even when they have access to such information, the adolescents have been found not to be favourably disposed towards the use of condoms (Odebiyi, 1991). Also, these young girls do not insist on their partners using condoms because of the fear of losing a very wealthy partner. With the present biting economic crises, one of the survival mechanisms adopted by young girls is to solicit for sexual partners in the premises of hotels and drinking bars in the cities. They engage in these sexual relations to augment their income or that of the family.

Again, there is a growing interest in sexual experiences of the adolescents, with increase in the prevalence of the AIDS crisis. This is because risk-related sexual behaviour begins in adolescence (Hein, 1989); whereby majority of teenagers have had sexual intercourse by the age of 19 (CDC, 1991); and by adulthood, most would have had several partners (Hein, 1992), and yet with a low degree of contraceptive use among the youths (DiClemente, 1992). According to Gayle, Manoff and Rogers (1989), with the estimated latency period of 11 years from time of infection to development of AIDS, many adolescents would contract the HIV virus as adolescents, and might not realize this until much later. This risk environment is also expanding in the developing nations, and much more further compounded by their economic situations whereby both old and young are faced with daily struggle for survival needs.

In Nigeria, there is so much agitation about the decline in moral standard. Adolescent pregnancy is becoming a common occurrence (Aina et al., 1996), while the deaths of young girls through abortions is causing a great concern for both the people and the government of Nigeria (Okonofua, 1993). Religious leaders are blaming both parents and teachers for sexual laxity amongst the youths. The economic situation in Nigeria is affecting homes and the standard of living is declining daily.

There are so many unanswered questions about the unmarried adolescent motherhood experience. What are the precipitating factors in becoming an unmarried adolescent mother (UAM)? What are the implications of premature parenthood on victims, families, and the society at large? What are the sources of support available to UAMs? Are UAMs always from poor homes? Are there differences in the coping strategies of UAMs from urban and rural areas? How can the incidence of unmarried adolescent motherhood be curtailed in the society? etc. These and many other questions are intended to be answered by the present study.

These are categorized into immediate and the long-term objectives. The immediate objectives are -

The long term objective representing the final goal of the research is the

accumulation of rich qualitative data which would help in planning intervention aimed not only at improving the plight of unmarried mothers, but would also be geared towards curtailing the incidence of unmarried motherhood among young girls.

(a)Major Assumption of the Study

The major assumption of the study is that unmarried adolescent mothers would tend to be mainly from poor homes, and that they were thrown into their present predicament by their desire to gain monetary rewards from sexual relationships. Consequently, their own children would be raised in a poorer state and the vicious cycle of poverty would tend to ensue.

Figure 1 presents the pattern of transmission of poverty from parents of the girls (i.e. as children in their parents' homes); and later through the girls as adolescent mothers; and then to the children born and brought up by these adolescent mothers. To trace the processes of transmission of poverty status from one generation to another, the state of poverty is treated as the dependent variable, while the predictors (i.e. explanatory variables or the independent variables) are the socio-economic status of the parents of the unmarried adolescent mothers (i.e. a background preceding the state of adolescent motherhood); and the present socio-economic status of the girls (UAMs).

2. Research Methods:

The study was undertaken in two communities in Nigeria - Orileowu (a rural town) and Oshogbo (an urban town) - both in Osun State, of Southwestern Nigeria. The fieldwork for the study was carried out between September, 1994 and February, 1995. Both primary and secondary data were collected. The primary data were mainly qualitative data collected through the use of indepth interviews, and Focus Group Discussions. Secondary data were collected on the available health facilities in the study areas using available baseline data in the State Ministry of Health, and the specific LGA secretariats.

The unmarried adolescent mothers in this study were identified and enumerated during household surveys, and through key informants and principals of schools. The study sample was limited to the cases of a total abandonment of such mothers and their children by the biological fathers of the children. Originally, researchers planned to use a control group consisting of about 20 adolescents who were impregnated but whose partners accepted the responsibilities to care for them and their babies. This would have enabled comparisons of the situations of both the UAMs without support from their partners and those with support from their partners. However, only 2 of such adolescent mothers (with supports from their partners) were found in Orile-Owu. These two girls were interviewed indepth, and their situations compared to those without the support of the sexual partner and the family of the man. Also, the UAMs (who had no support from sexual partners and their families), who were the focus of the study, were interviewed indepth noting their experiences before and after becoming premature parents.

3.Results:

3.1Socio-Economic Characteristics of the Selected Unmarried Adolescent Mothers and their Parents:

Data on parents of the UAMs were collected through personal interviews conducted with the parents of the selected UAMs (i.e a father or a mother selected alternately in 30 households with UAMs in the rural settlement of Orileowu, giving 17 fathers and 13 mothers; while at the urban area of Oshogbo, parents included in the survey were 9 fathers, and 31 mothers). The background data on the parents of the UAMs presents a picture of poverty and ignorance in many of the households surveyed, a background which might have precipitated the UAMs phenomenon. Parents were generally illiterates, poor, and with relatively large family sizes, meaning that a large number of children competed for the families' scarce resources.

A total of 67 UAMs were studied indepth. Their ages ranged from 14 to 19 years. Majority of them (71.6%) were nursing their first babies, 11% were nursing their second babies, while 16.4% were still carrying their first pregnancies. At Orileowu, about 86% of the UAMs got impregnated whilst in either primary or secondary schools, while 14% had never been to school. In Oshogbo, majority (80%) got impregnated while in the secondary school, while only one person had never been to school.

3.2.Daily Activities, Food Intake, and Child Care.

Each UAM was observed for a period of 24 hours (a typical day), during which notes were taken on daily activities, food intake and child care. The UAMs devoted much of their time to child care and productive tasks. On the average, each person woke up at about 6 a.m daily, spent 2 to 3 hours on house cleaning, preparation of breakfast and child care. In most cases, they left the house by 9 a.m for the farm, markets or shops. At Orileowu, the apprentices or food vendors among the UAMs returned home to prepare dinner at about 6 p.m. In Oshogbo, even though most UAMs returned home at about 6 p.m, some still engaged in the selling of food items such as akara and eko in the late evenings. The UAMs carried their babies on the back while they did most of their farm work/trading.

Some UAMs hawked their wares in the heat of the sun with their babies on their backs, cooked lunch was bought at the place of work rather than being prepared at home. The babies were breastfed at convenience. There was no relaxation for most of the UAMs. Meal times for both the UAMs and their babies were not too regular. The infants on breast milk were the most well fed. Outside breast milk, other foods were rationed.

Immunization was completed for an average child. The mothers visited clinics (where available) only when a child was sick. When drugs prescribed were unaffordable, mothers resorted to local herbs for their babies. Apart from some assistance from their own mothers, the UAMs were solely responsible for taking care of their children, washing their clothes, carrying them around, and cleaning them when necessary.

3.3.Reactions to Adolescent Pregnancy

Data were collected through FGDs and personal interviews on individual and community reaction to adolescent pregnancy. A total of 12 FGDs were conducted, with 8 people in each of these homogenous groups (i.e. group was made up of the same sex, age group, and the same socio-economic class). Generally, the phenomenon of premature parenthood was frowned at across gender, age, occupational and religious groups. Those in the older generation, and those who were mainly from the rural centre appeared a little permissive. For many of them, the primary role of women is to procreate. According to them - "if girls decide to start child bearing early, it is all well and good so far they can identify the father of such babies......". The young female adults at Oshogbo agreed that urbanisation has led to the weakening of the family ties. "Each person is now concerned with self. What now exists is alajogbe (i.e. persons who merely share residence) and not alajobi (i.e. people who share blood relations, and are thereby committed to each other's course)". Thus, the upbringing of the child rests solely on parents, while neighbours merely "gossip" rather than "correct" bad behaviour amongst youths.

The FGD data showed that generally, members of the two communities (Orileowu and Oshogbo) were not happy with the increasing rate of adolescent pregnancy which they attributed to the following:

Three major factors precipitating adolescent pregnancy came out in the FGDs. A major cause generally identified is the social status of families particularly a poor or broken family, or a family where there is a general lack of discipline among both the adults and the children. Poverty in homes is seen as a major cause of adolescent parenthood. A general remark from FGDs is that an average home in Nigeria now, can hardly feed, not to talk of sending children to school. Although girls in both rich and poor homes can be victims of adolescent pregnancy, FGD results showed that it is more common in homes where parents are poor and are illiterates. Another major reason for increased rate of adolescent pregnancy is the present political atmosphere and its effects on the school system. "Series of teachers' strikes and school closures have rendered boys and girls walkabouts" retorted one of the opinion leaders. It was agreed that there is currently no incentive for children to read, given the increased rate of unemployment amongst school leavers, and the lack of commitment among teachers due to poor working conditions. The latter was found to be more pronounced in the rural location where teachers find schools inaccessible due to poor roads. Also, because the rural towns lack basic infrastructural facilities, most teachers resist transfer to such towns/villages. A female headmistress in Orileowu said: "at every strike action by teachers, an average of 20 - 40 school girls are impregnated in the town".

Hawking of trade wares by young girls was identified in the FGDs as causing unnecessary exposure of young girls to promiscuity. Over 35 of the girls in this study got pregnant whilst hawking. About 29 of these said they were "lured into the act", with the men threatening that the girls dare not report this to anybody.

Another important point which came out of the FGDs is the issue of the general laxity in parental and maternal roles, which discussants found to be due to the present arrangement whereby parents leave young children by themselves, largely uncared for. Parents, especially mothers, who are employed outside the homes (especially in the formal labour market) fail to arrange adequate care for their children. Such children either roam around the neighbourhood uncared for, or are kept with neighbours who could sometimes abuse such children if they are young girls. Although, all the members of the 2 FGD groups who raised this issue agreed that women have a right to work outside the home, as much as men; they argued that merging motherhood with working outside the home have too many negative implications for the children and this should attract policy attention.

When the UAMs were asked the reasons for indulging in sexual relations at a tender age, many reasons unfolded:

In the rural town of Orileowu, girls engaged in premarital sex mainly because "they were lured by men"; "for the fun of it"; and because of "the desire to have husband". The case is slightly different in the urban town. In Oshogbo, girls engaged in premarital sex "for the fun of it"; "to be like their friends"; "desire to have husbands"; and because they were "lured by men". "Desire for monetary gains" was a less popular reason. Desire for monetary returns for premarital sexual activities came out in the FGD discussions much more than the personal interviews held with victims. This discrepancy could be accounted for in two ways. One, it might mean that the UAMs were socially embarrassed to accept selling their bodies for money; and two, this might be an indication of a gap between societal prejudices and the empirical reality of a social fact. However, in a society where poverty is not socially acclaimed, individuals may find it difficult to admit being economically disadvantaged.

Although, many of the adolescents said they knew that family planning programmes were available in most health centres, they dared not ask for such services because of their age, and for fear of "getting a bad name in the community". Very few of the UAMs from the rural town had ever heard of FP programmes.

The few (17) who engaged in premarital sex because of monetary gains claimed that they used such money to augment family earnings, or on other items such as clothing, food, and sometimes for paying school fees. Trading in sex for monetary gains seemed to be a phenomenon that is emerging rapidly both in the urban as well as in the rural towns. For example, over 50% (21 girls) were impregnated by "sugar daddies" (older but rich men, sometimes old enough to be the girl's father), while 11 out of the 27 UAMs at Orileowu (the rural town) reported the same.

The issue of the "sugar daddies" syndrome came out strongly in the different FGD sessions. The following are some of the major descriptions made of this phenomenon:

Different reactions have been demonstrated against premature parenthood. UAMs reported that their parents often frowned at it, but more support came from their mothers, than from their fathers. A father (at Oshogbo) was reported as having beaten a daughter to death because she got pregnant while still in school.

Neighbours and friends become hostile to pregnant adolescents, and UAMs are often treated as outcasts. Many of the girls said they went into hiding while carrying the pregnancies, while others felt happy for being alive afterall. Majority (89.6%) withheld information about the pregnancies from the men responsible, for they feared such men could lure them into having abortions. Only 37.3% ever thought of aborting the pregnancies. UAMs said their present situation of premature parenthood had disrupted their original plans to be in school or learn a trade (see Figure 2). Over 75% of the UAMs were not happy with the jobs they engaged in now which were farming, cracking palm kernels, and hawking.

FGDs with men, women and school children, as well as indepth interviews with opinion leaders (school teachers, church pastors, community leaders, etc) confirmed that children born by adolescent mothers lacked proper care and were poorly fed. In some cases the girls still had 2 to 3 other children for different men who repeatedly denied fatherhood. When school girls were impregnated, they either voluntarily left school before the pregnancy was noticed or were expelled. In most cases, the boys responsible continued their own schooling, and often escaped from school punishment by maintaining a complete denial. One of the opinion leaders in Orileowu retorted:

(meaning that a boy can impregnate several women within a tinkle of an eye) yet "... he has nothing to fear, no pregnancies, no abortions".

Despite the predicament of the adolescent mothers, community members argued vigorously against helping them in any way. They should be made to face the music alone to deter others. The social environment is generally hostile towards the adolescent mothers and their children. No wonder cases of abandoned children are on the increase as reported in the various interviews. One of the opinion leaders in Oshogbo reported that more than six cases of abandoned babies were reported during the year at Oshogbo. A school principal in Oshogbo explained that sometimes babies were abandoned when it became too tough on the mothers, with the hope that the Social Welfare Department would take up the care of such babies. She further stated that adolescent mothers faced general condemnation and rejection, and that they often ended up as misfits in the society. The school policy is that a girl should be sent out of school as soon as it is known that she is pregnant. In reality, many of such girls left school before their pregnancies became noticeable, because of shame and regret.

3.4Ante-natal/Post-natal Cares

Only 31.3% became aware of their pregnancies at the first month. Others were in fact unaware until about the 4th month. About 30% were not aware of pregnancies until about the 3rd to 4th month (see Figure 3). This points to the ignorance of the adolescents about pregnancies and child birth, and their implications too. The girls became aware of their pregnancies as a result of sickness and tip offs from boyfriends, parents and friends.

Although majority (86.6%) attended ante-natal care, the duration varied. In most cases, the pregnancies would had advanced before the girls reported at ante-natal clinics. While about 48% in the urban town started ante-natal clinic within the first 4th months, only about 22.2% did so in the rural town of Orileowu. More of those who registered late for antenatal clinics were from Orileowu (i.e. 35% of those in Oshogbo, and 70.3% of UAMs in Orileowu) (see Figure 4). Reasons for late registration for antenatal clinics include:

- fear of public negative comments on the UAMs;

- lack of funds for registration;

- inability of the young mother to tell the truth about her new status;

- ignorance, and lack of knowledge of the appropriate steps to take.

The UAMs registered in various clinics (44.8% registered at major hospitals like State Hospitals; 23.9% registered at Maternity Homes; 19.4% at rural clinic; 3% at Dispensaries; 4% merely visited patent medicine stores, while 1.5% preferred faith clinics (churches). In one or two cases, where the sexual partners admitted being responsible for the pregnancy, they were made to pay antenatal care fee. Otherwise, the parents of the adolescents paid antenatal bills.

Most of the children nursed by the UAMs were still infants and toddlers. Although some (29.9%) of the UAMs had children who were already between 2 to 3 years old, none of them had remarried, neither did they resume schooling or other vocations. This may imply societal rejection of unmarried adolescent mother in matters of contracting acceptable marital relations, and getting a place in the formal educational institutions.

Majority (67%) of the UAMs were informed about children immunizations including BCG, DPT, Oral Polio and measles vaccination; while 32.8% were not. Majority of the adolescent mothers tend to self-medicate because they could not even afford the charges of the healers.

3.5.Childcare Practices and Family Planning Knowledge

3.5.1.Breast feeding Practices:

All UAMs breastfed their babies. This could be due to tyheir inability to buy manufactured infant foods, for many of them were not exposed to the current baby friendly programme in the State. From as early as 4 months, many of the infants were introduced to adult meals, including "amala" (yam flour balls), yams, rice, beans, "eba" (cassava cereal made into balls), pap, and vegetable stews. The few who used tinned baby foods (e.g. cerelac) were mostly from the urban location. Baby food was not a popular substitute in the rural location, rather herbal drinks complemented breastmilk until the child was old enough to start adult meals. Observation data revealed that most of the infants of the UAMs were not robust despite the long periods of breastfeeding. They were also poorly dressed. Toddlers were naked with dirty clothes wrapped around their buttocks to serve as nappies.

Even though poverty environment is a common experience presently in Nigeria, the problem was compounded for most of the adolescent mothers in this study. They had no jobs and were living off their mothers. In some cases, the mother themselves were still rearing children and were also battling with the problems of large families.

Family planning (FP) programmes and methods were known to many of the UAMs.On the whole, 47.5% of UAMs in Oshogbo and 5.6% in Orileowu were using one form of FP method or the other before their first pregnancy, whereas majority (60%) were rather ignorant of family planning methods and were not sexually active (Figure 5). These latter were naive and were those either lured or raped.

3.5.3.Present Sexual Habits and Parental Attitudes towards the UAMs:

At the time of the study, about 14.8% of the UAMs in Orileowu, and 40% in Oshogbo said they were sexually active. Majority (60%) of those sexually active (20) were on pills, while 40% said they made sure their partners used condoms. Several reasons were given for the present indulgence in premarital sex despite the predicament of adolescent parenthood. Two of the reasons are:

The adolescent mothers were worse off mainly in the area of income and occupational prospects, and the treatment received from their fathers. Empirical evidence in the field showed that the fathers were more hostile towards their adolescent pregnant daughters, than the mothers were. Many fathers would prefer not to discuss the issue, while some fathers were hostile not only towards the daughters but also to their wives, who according to them, had shirked their mother-role responsibilities by producing UAMs.

3.5.4.Possible Assistance for UAMs, and Suggestions for Prevention of Adolescent Motherhood as Presented by the UAMs.

The unmarried adolescent mothers would want to be helped in the following areas:

- financial assistance to learn and start a trade/vocation;

- government support for them and their children;

- acceptance by the community;

- availability of jobs for them;

- opportunity to re-enter school;

- provision of food, clothes and shelter;

- moral instructions for them;

- better organized sex education in schools;

-free access to family planning by school children that are sexually active;

-mass media campaign against rape and other abuse of the girl child;

-government legislation against unlawful sex, and sexual relation with children below the age of 18 years;

- more discipline to be instituted in the homes etc.

The FGD reports and indepth interviews of opinion leaders showed that many people would like to see the government legislate against adolescent pregnancy, while children who were victims should be allowed to resume school. Children born by UAMs should also be given subsidized medical care in government hospitals and maternity homes. Lastly, to prevent adolescent pregnancy, the following were agreed upon at the various levels of the FGD sessions:

-making schools, particularly at the secondary school level, single sex schools;

-sex education in schools and in homes;

-banning night parties in all towns and villages;

-returning schools to the missions so that moral religious instructions can return to schools (this, it was argued, would make young children to be God fearing);

-jail terms for men/boys who impregnate adolescent girls;

-parents are to show more interest in the education of their girls while parents should interact more with the teachers to understand their children better.

3.6. The Control Group:

Two UAMs with full support from their sexual partners were used as a control group (although 20 UAMs in this category was originally aimed at). Due to the smallness of this sample, they were not treated as a statistical analysis category. Rather, a small summary is presented on them here.

The situation of the 2 UAMs (with supports from sexual partner) was different from those without such supports. The two girls were impregnated by elderly men (a popular politician and a mechanic). With family interventions, the men responsible for the pregnancies were made to marry these girls. Although the girls were married into a polygynous arrangement, they (both mother and child) were properly taken care of. The girl married to a politician was at the time of the study selling provisions and baby dresses, while the one married to the mechanic became an apprentice to a seamstress. The two girls had moved to the husbands' houses, while their children were well taken care of. The two children appeared healthy and better clothed. When interviewed, both said their husbands were financially responsible for their upkeep and their new trade. The mechanic promised to buy necessary sewing machines for the wife after her "freedom". Thus, there tends to be a sharp difference between the unmarried adolescent mothers and those who had subsequently attained married status. First, the married adolescent mothers tended to attract more support and sympathy. Second, the fact that the men accepted both financial and social responsibilities eased the problems of the married adolescent mothers. Thus, they fed better; they gained a social status; and they became gainfully employed.

3.7.Discussion of Study propositions :

Since the data for the study were collected mainly through indepth interviews, FGDs and observations - the data were mainly qualitative data. Therefore, the test of the hypotheses could not be subjected to any rigorous statistical techniques. Moreover, a lot of the useful data would be lost in any attempt to quantify the responses too rigorously. Simple percentages and quotes were used to confirm or refute the propositions (since the statements were not subjected to rigorous statistical techniques then we cannot talk about test of hypothesis).

"That the status of unmarried motherhood would tend to be more pronounced among adolescents in the lower socio-economic class".

To confirm this proposition, certain socio- economic indices are used which include:

This proposition is tested using the indices above, based on the data obtained from the interviews with UAMs and their parents, observation data and also the FGD reports. Data from interviews with the UAMs showed that only a minority of their parents (15% of fathers and 2.5% of mothers) had university degrees. In the 2 locations, fathers were mainly farmers, while the mothers were mainly traders (selling agricultural products/cooked foods etc) and farmers. More than half (53%) had parents who earned less than N1,000 a month (i.e. income from all sources including farming, trading, livestock keeping, and other productive works), meaning that majority of homes are below the poverty line.

Also significant is the very early age at which the parents of the UAMs themselves got married. In Orile-Owu the age of the mothers at the first marriage ranged between 13 and 23 years while at Oshogbo, it ranged between 15 and 20 years. The total number of children had by parents of the UAMs in both locations was again very high. Some parents in Orile-Owu had up to 14 children and in the Oshogbo location a family had up to 35 children.

Apart from the large number of children, there were also many wives in the households. In fact, only 47.5% had parents who were monogamously married in Oshogbo (a family even has six wives), while in Orileowu, only 25.9% were monogamously married.

From the observation data, it was noted that the living condition and the feeding of infants by the UAMs (who are mainly living with parents) were poor.

Above data tend to reflect a poor socio-economic background, thus confirming proposition 1. Interviews with principals and opinion leaders (especially health workers) confirmed that most UAMs were from poor backgrounds (i.e. large size families where parents could not adequately cater for all the children), thereby leading to some of these adolescents engaging in premarital sex for monetary rewards.

Interviews with the UAMs showed that on the whole, 40% (47.5% of the UAMs in Oshogbo and 5.6% of UAMs in Orile-Owu) were using one form of family planning method or the other before their first pregnancy, while 60% were rather ignorant of family planning techniques, and were not even sexually active (these were either lured or raped). Further probing with the UAMs showed that in reality, adolescents could not often approach established family planning clinics for contraceptive use/advice because they are still single and they would be seen as being promiscuous. Therefore, the girls mainly depend on their sex partners to take precautions against pregnancies. Often, such men deceive these girls and often give the girls wrong counselling. A girl reported "my boyfriend told me one needs to have sex several times to get pregnant. Just an act, he told me can never result in a pregnancy". Above evidences support the Proposition 2.

To support or refute this proposition, the responses of the UAMs as to why they engaged in pre-marital sex were examined. The most frequently cited response for engaging in premarital sex was "for the fun of it" in the Oshogbo location while most of the UAMs in the rural location were lured by men and they fell for it. The desire to gain monetary reward was the fifth and fourth mentioned response in Oshogbo and Orile-Owu respectively. When health workers in the two locations were asked to describe the type of girls who have been victims of early pregnancies in the respective communities, these are some of the statements made:

Data on sources of assistance given to the UAMs showed that parents bore the brunt of sustaining the UAMs and their children. Generally, parents provided such supports as - feeding, shelter and clothing. FGDs with male opinion leaders indicated that the community has not been able to help these girls and their children. The general view of these men could be summed up using a phrase used during one of the FGD sessions: "eni bimo iya lo npo an" (which literally means, "who ever gives birth to a child of shame will rear the child herself". The FGDs with women again stressed that the community could not help such mothers. Even school children believed the UAMs should not be given any form of assistance because according to them, "they deserved what they got".

The school policy according to a principal in Oshogbo is that girls who got pregnant whilst in school should be sent out of school. Thus, available data tended to support that the UAMs received assistance only from their parents. Thus, proposition 4 is again supported.

The data from interviews with the UAMs showed that majority (86.6%) started ante-natal care very late. In Oshogbo, majority (20.0%) started receiving ante-natal care in the 6th month while in Orile-Owu, about 41% started in the 5th month. Ante-natal care should begin once an individual discovers that she is pregnant or misses her monthly flow. But the adolescent mothers tend to delay admitting being pregnant. This could be attributed to the shame attached to premature motherhood and the need to hide this from the public. It could also be because of the lack of finances required to meet the hospital demands. Some of the UAMs were not even aware of their pregnancies till the 2nd - 4th month. Thus, they sought ante-natal care late. Above data support Proposition 5.

Observational data on the feeding patterns revealed the hardships facing these UAMs. In the 2 locations, meals for both UAMs and babies were not too regular. Only the children on breastmilk were most well fed. Types of food consumed by UAMs and children (1 year above) were mostly carbohydrate foods. Also observation data revealed that the children played round the homestead half naked (a condition which was more pronounced in Orile-Owu). The observation report further showed that the children were raised in an environment where domestic animals moved around the homesteads, where open dumping of refuse was the norm and where (in the case of Orile-Owu), people eased themselves in the bush. The data, no doubt, support the 6th assumption.

One could say that such poverty stricken situations are characteristic of many rural settings in Nigeria, but from information gathered from the UAMs, their socio-economic situation deteriorated with their first pregnancies. To compound their problems, UAMs were sent out of school once it was known that they were pregnant or once the pregnancy was obvious. They were not even allowed to come back to the same school. This is a form of discrimination.

It should however be noted that in few cases, the poverty chain could be broken where the UAMs experienced the following:

4.CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1.Conclusions:

Empirical evidence provided by this study shows that most UAMs studied were from low socio-economic background. No doubts, the UAMs became victims of early pregnancies because of poor economic situations, although many of them would rather describe their premarital sexual relations as "fun". The unwillingness to admit engaging in premarital sex for money could be attributed to the following: (I) their not wanting to be tagged "sex workers"; (ii) the general unwillingness to admit to poverty by the Yorubas. This may be attributed to the derogatory way in which the poor are perceived within the Yoruba communities. For instance, in a World Bank study on poor women and children in Osun State, (Odebiyi et al 1994), it was noted that children and women admitted that they did not have several things socially desirable, but they still stated that they were not poor. Poverty is usually associated with "osi"; "aini"; "ise" (literally meaning "destitute", "lack", "poverty") and these are all derogatory terminologies among the Yorubas.

Also, noteworthy is the fact that the mothers of the UAMs themselves got married early and the pattern has been repeated by their children. This implies that efforts must be made to break the vicious cycle of poverty, early marriage and more poverty. In fact, the study by Furstenberg et al (1987) found that the children even got pregnant at earlier ages than did their mothers. The only support was from parents (who themselves are poor). This means that the amount of parental support is limited as no help comes from the extended families, community members or from the government. Other siblings could hardly help the UAMs because they had to engage in productive activities outside the home. In fact, some members of the community even felt the UAMs should be left to suffer for their action.

It is against this background that the poor and irregular meals, and the poor living conditions of the UAMs can be understood. It explains also why they even delay seeking ante/post natal care. This finding corresponds with the work of Okonofua (1992) in which he observed that pregnant teenagers delayed seeking ante natal care, and that complications were more pronounced among this group. Despite all these, majority of the UAMs (67.2%) said they did not regret their premarital sexual behaviour. Moreover, just below 50% said that they could not avoid sexual relations completely despite what they had gone through. The most frequently cited reasons for the present indulgence in sexual acts were for monetary gains and for satisfaction.

This raises the need to promote family planning practice among the youths, particularly as 60% of the UAMs in the two locations were ignorant of family planning devices before their first pregnancy and few of them were using one form of family planning method before their first pregnancy. The issue of sex education in schools should be pursued.

The phenomenon of the "sugar daddies" syndrome came out strongly. No doubt, this group of men, generally seen as the "nouveaux riche", used their riches to take advantage of young girls with poverty backgrounds, or those girls who are just greedy for material wealth.

4.2.Policy Recommendations

Considering the study findings, policy recommendations are made at four levels viz policy recommendations directed at the government, the schools, the parents and at the entire community.

4.2.1.Policy Recommendations Relating to the Government

a.Assistance to children and unmarried adolescent mothers

Government should have a plan to assist those who drop out of school as a result of teenage pregnancy. There should be a programme where such a child could be catered for by the Social Welfare Department while the mother goes back to school to complete her education. In this way, her chances of getting a good job in future will be increased and her ability to better care for her child in future will be enhanced. This is necessary since as the traditional supportive safety nets are lacking and with the biting economic crunch, the degree of assistance from parents are again limited. In order to ensure that such children are well fed and better cared for, and in order to break the vicious cycle of poverty, there is a need for a government-sponsored arrangement for caring for such children.

b.Protection for young innocent girls

Since marriages are usually registered, ages of the parties concerned should be within what the law specifies. Although, there is the possibility that some can lie about their ages, some documentations should be required to ensure compliance. These measure could at least help to enforce the law.

Again government should make a law prohibiting young girls from hawking wares. In order to ensure that this law is complied with, there is need for the government to raise peoples' standard of living. For families whose young girls hawk or sell their sexual favours, may not be thus pushed if they were able to make ends meet. Families should be able to have their three square meals daily. With improved standard of living, poor families may be expected to comply with the law about the age at which to start hawking. This becomes important considering the fact that over 50% of the girls in this study were impregnated whilst hawking their wares.

Government should also revisit the role of religious bodies in the educational system. A common trend from the FGD sessions is the opinion that the take-over of mission schools (especially secondary schools), and subsequently, the less emphasis placed on moral/religious institutions in schools, have led to the collapse of the secondary school system.

With recorded history of large family sizes, low income, under-nutrition of children born by the unmarried adolescent mothers, and of low level of family planning knowledge, family planning promotion should be embarked upon more vigorously.

e.Measure to curb frequent strikes by school teachers and frequent school closures

With the background that a lot of the teenage pregnancies occurred, during school closures and teacher strike actions (as in the case of Orileowu), government should improve school conditions/working conditions so as to minimize the occurrence.

4.2.2.Policy Recommendations Relating to the School

Schools should make it a policy to teach sex-education.

The schools should operate a policy which enables the teenagers who drop out of school to have their babies, to be re-admitted to complete their education at the point where they initially left off. This will further empower them in future and prevent re-occurrence.

The community should be educated to learn to support these unmarried adolescent mothers. Even though Nigeria now accepts all children as legitimate, the community still refuses to give support (moral, social and financial) to the UAMs. The community should attempt to assist them by organising child care centres for such children while their mothers either go back to school or go to work to earn some money.

• Aina, O.I. and Ayeni, E.A. (1996), "Adolescent Sexuality: The Experiences of Female Undergraduates in a Nigerian University". International Journal of Women's Studies, Nsukka (forthcoming).
• Centre for Disease Control (1991), "Premarital sexual experiences among adolescent women, 1970 - 1988". Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 39, pp. 929 - 932.
• Centres for Disease Control (1992), "Sexual behaviour among high school students - United States, 1990". Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol 40, pp. 885 888.
• DiClemente, R. J. (1992), "Psycho-social determinants of condom use among adolescents". In R. J. DiClemente (ed.) Adolescents and AIDS: A generation in jeopardy. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• Gayle, H.; S. Manoff and M. Rogers (1989), "Epidemiology of AIDS in adolescents, USA" (Abstract # MD07, p. 696). Paper presented at Fifth International AIDS conference, Montreal, Canada.
• Hall, Robert (1970), Abortion in a Changing World, Vol. 1. New York, Columbia University Press.
• Heins, K. (1989), "AIDS in adolescence: The next wave of the HIV epidemic?. Journal of Pediatrics, pp. 114 - 149.
• Miller, N. and R.C. Rockwell (1988), AIDS in Africa: The Social and Policy Impact. Lewiston/Queenston, Edwin Meller Press.
• Odebiyi, A.I. (1991), "Conception of AIDS and its Prevention among Students in a Nigerian University". J. Royal Society Health 112 (2) 59-63.
• Odebiyi A.I., Aina O.I. and Soetan R.O. (1994), "Women and Children in Poor Households in Osun State". Report Submitted to the World Bank.
• Okonofua, Friday (1993), "Clinical Consequences of Unsafe and Induced Abortion and their Management in Nigeria". Proceedings of a Seminar on Prevention of Morbidity and Mortality from Unsafe Abortion in Nigeria. Funded by the Population Council, New York.
• Okonofua, F.E. et. al. (1992), "Influence of Socio-economic factors on the treatment and prevention of malaria in pregnant and non-pregnant adolescent girls in Nigeria". Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 95, 309-315.
• Orubuloye, I.O., J.C. Caldwell and Pat Caldwell (1992), "Diffusion and focus in sexual networking: Identifying Partners and Partners". Health Transition Working Paper No. 11, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University.

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Copyright 1997 - Union for African Population Studies.