Early Teenage Pregnancy among Adolescents in South Nyanza, Kenya

Monica A. Magadi, University of Southampton
David Omollo, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)
Alfred O. Agwanda, University of Nairobi

This paper analyses data from a recent survey of adolescents in Kenya to examine the determinants and consequences of early teenage pregnancy, as well as experiences with such pregnancies. The data were obtained from individual adolescent and community surveys involving 1247 adolescents aged 12-19 years in 32 communities in the South Nyanza region of Kenya. This is complemented with qualitative information from in-depth interviews involving adolescents who had experienced very early pregnancies before age 16 years. The analysis of the determinants applies a multilevel logistic regression model and examines potential determinants relating to household socio-economic factors, and adolescent’s background characteristics and gender relations /autonomy, as well as sexual relations and reproductive health experiences. In addition, the effect of contextual community factors, including availability and accessibility of reproductive health services within the communities is explored.