Abstract
Study Objective
Latin America ranks second in adolescent birth rate globally. Teenage pregnancy often
leads to adverse outcomes, affecting the health of the mother and the child in various
ways. We examined the association between sexual and reproductive literacy and teenage
pregnancy in Latin America.
Design, Setting, Participants, Interventions, and Main Outcome Measures
We analyzed Demographic and Health Survey data for Honduras, the Dominican Republic,
Colombia, Peru, and Guatemala. Adolescents were asked about their sexual and reproductive
health and their experiences of teenage pregnancy. We measured single and recurrent
pregnancy risks according to various classes of sexual and reproductive health literacy
using prevalence ratios and adjusted for covariates. We estimated the burden of “preventable”
single and recurrent teen pregnancy at various effectiveness levels of sexual and
reproductive health literacy interventions.
Results
The prevalence of teenage pregnancy for all 5 countries was 19.1%. A positive dose-response
relationship was observed between sexual and reproductive health illiteracy and teenage
pregnancy; an adolescent who reported complete sexual and reproductive health illiteracy
showed 44% increased prevalence of experiencing pregnancy compared with an adolescent
who reported accurate sexual and reproductive health literacy. Effective sexual and
reproductive health interventions in all 5 countries was associated with 56,006 fewer
single and 147,771 fewer recurrent teenage pregnancies.
Conclusion
Sexual and reproductive health illiteracy is a risk factor for teenage pregnancy.
Complete sexual and reproductive health literacy is associated with substantial reduction
in teenage pregnancy in Latin America. Comprehensive sexual and reproductive health
education and counseling could potentially avert a significant number of teenage pregnancies
in these settings.
Key Words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent GynecologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- United Nations: World fertility patterns 2015.(Available:)http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/fertility/world-fertility-patterns-2015.pdfDate accessed: February 10, 2019
- Trends in adolescent first births in five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: disaggregated data from demographic and health surveys.Reprod Health. 2018; 15: 146
- UNData: Adolescent fertility rate (per 1000 women).(Available:)http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?q=adolescent+fertility&d=WHO&f=MEASURE_CODE%3aasfr1Date accessed: February 16, 2019
- N-IUSSP: Adolescent fertility in Latin America and the Caribbean.(Available:)
- Youth.gov: Youth topics. Pregnancy prevention. Adverse effects.(Available:)https://youth.gov/youth-topics/pregnancy-prevention/adverse-effects-teen-pregnancyDate accessed: February 28, 2019
- Pregnancy in early adolescence: are there obstetric risks?.J Matern Fetal Med. 1996; 5: 333
- Guttmacher Institute: Unintended pregnancy rates declined globally from 1990 to 2014.(Available:)https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2018/unintended-pregnancy-rates-declined-globally-1990-2014Date accessed: February 17, 2019
- Guttmacher Institute: Abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean.(Available:)https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/factsheet/ib_aww-latin-america.pdfDate accessed: February 10, 2019
- World Health Organization: Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence.(Available:)
- Planned Parenthood: New CDC report on U.S. teens’ sexual behavior illustrates adolescents’ continued need for sex education and effective birth control.(Available:)
- 70% of students in Latin America do not have comprehensive access to sexual education.(Available:)https://plataformalac.org/en/2017/04/70-of-students-in-latin-america-do-not-have-comprehensive-access-to-sexual-educationDate accessed: February 13, 2019
- The DHS Program User Forum: Denormalizing data.(Available:)https://userforum.dhsprogram.com/index.php?t=msg&goto=9556&Date accessed: February 19, 2019
- Spousal violence and potentially preventable single and recurrent spontaneous fetal loss in an African setting: cross-sectional study.Lancet. 2009; 373: 318
- Health literacy and its association with perception of teratogenic risks and health behavior during pregnancy.Patient Educ Couns. 2014; 96: 171
- Health literacy and pregnancy preparedness in pregestational diabetes.Diabetes Care. 2004; 27: 331
- Parity and pregnancy outcomes.Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2002; 186: 274
- Cohort study of early literacy and childbearing over the reproductive lifecourse.BMJ Open. 2016; 6: e013522
Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 10, 2019
Footnotes
The authors indicate no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc.
