The magnitude of teenage pregnancy and its associated factors among teenagers in Dodoma Tanzania: a community-based analytical cross-sectional study

Abstract

Plain English summary The study is reporting the status of teenage pregnancy among adolescents aged 15–19 years in the Dodoma Region. Dodoma Region is the capital city of Tanzania and it is among the fastest-growing city of Tanzania. The region has the highest population of youth in Tanzania. In addition, the study is reporting on factors associated with teenage pregnancy. A range of factors that have been reported by previous studies was assessed in this study to test whether they are significant factors in this population. These factors were sociodemographic factors (age, sex, marital status, education, occupation), social factors (Peer pressure, sexual abuse), familial factors (Household socio-economic status, domestic violence, marital status,), behavioral factors (like age at first sexual intercourse, early marriage, and contraceptive use, perception on teenage pregnancy, family income, peer pressure, and casual sex) and knowledge on sexual and reproductive health. The findings from this study are key to the development of a focused intervention study that will work out the strategies to be used to solve the problem of teenage pregnancies in Dodoma Region Tanzania.

Keywords

• Teens
• Pregnancy
• Adolescence
• Factors
• Dodoma
• Tanzania