“TEENAGE PREGNANCY: ITS EFFECT ON EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF

STUDENTS AND OUT-OF-SCHOOL YOUTH IN MIAGAO ILOILO“

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Background

Over the past few decades, teenage pregnancy has become a public concern which has
generated a great deal of attention in the the social and economic consequences of teenage
pregnancy has led to a consensus opinion among policy makers  and the public that teenage
pregnancy and child bearing is a significant social problem. It has been linked to an array of
other social issues, such as welfare dependency, child health and well-being, out of wedlock
births, fatherhood responsibility, child abuse and neglect, school drop-out and workforce
development.

  (Torivillas, The Philippine Star, 2013). There was a strong agreement that teenage
pregnancy rate is still on the increase and reducing the number of births by this age group
remains an important goal Scott (1981). The frequency of teenage pregnancy among the youth is
alarming and has become more or less a fact of life in many nations of the world including
Philippines. This remains both culturally deleterious and personally destructive. Teenage
pregnancy has lots of effects on Educational Development of teenagers who are victims of this
phenomenon.

The Philippine government and other religious institutions  are studying every angle to
look for ways to reduce untimely pregnancy among teenager. These are many factors which have
been recognized by researchers and authors as being responsible for teenage pregnancy. It has
been noted and well  documented that today’s teenagers face more sexual temptation than
previous generations. They seem to be more aware of sex and susceptible to the dangers of illicit
sex. Today’s society is more bombarded with sexually oriented materials in the environment.
Theteenager are more vulnerable to sexual temptations. Health and Home, Philippines, Pregnant
at 16, p.12-13 &22).
 According to Eruesgbefe, (2005). “Today’s teenagers have become more sexually active and
promiscuous compared to their age mates of some thirty, forty or fifty years ago in the Nigerian
situation”. He also asserted that, “The gradual departures from the traditions, customs and
religious doctrine of the different ethnic groups on the premise of civilization have been largely
responsible for this. Community and families must work hand in hand to shield their teenagers
against these phenomena. Increases in both health and social problems are products of
uncontrollable multiple sex partners among teenagers. Mainly because the youth cannot control
their emotional feelings, they rush into untimely sex, in the belief that the act will be undetected.

According to Albano (2001). In the Philippines, usually in a family, this category are not
taught family life education by their parents and schools because of the sensitivity of the issue,
this is contrary to the wide assumption that family life education is on. In practice, however, not
much of sex education is taught in every Filipino family. Existing government family planning
programs have been directed principally married couples.

Since Miagao is still a growing community, cases of teenage pregnancy

usually become a big issue to the neighbors and to the whole community. The family of the
victim is in trauma discovering that their teenager was some months on her way already. Almost
everybody is blaming the pregnant teenager of the consequences of her misdeeds.

They focused their judgment to the victim but they did not bother to ask why and what
were behind of indulging sex at teens and got pregnant not at the right time.

The Philippine government through some of its agencies like Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD)  and Department of Education (DepEd), introduced some
strategies to minimize the increasing cases of pregnancy as observed after a decade in the
Philippines. Sex education is being incorporated to the subject matters in school. RH bill could
be a big help to let the teenagers know how to act about sex. Filipino families and communities
is properly informed about their responsibilities to their youngsters with regards to sex. While
teenagers whenever they are must be reached to educate and be well informed how to counter
early pregnancy.

While religious sectors are also showing concerns about the teenagers by intensifying the
activities at the church and detour  their interest while they are still young and not yet prepare to
face the consequences brought about early sex. The churches now are also don’t want to left
behind on nurturing the youths by instilling  to their minds  that early sex out of wed luck has
consequences and the consequences hurt more than waiting. (Health and Home pp.13,2003).

The researcher of this paper hope that after the study, she can impart

some important strategies  and information she gained to the community, to the teachers, school
administrators, parents and to the teenagers on how to minimize teenage pregnancy to students
and out-of-school youth in Miagao Iloilo.

Statement of the problem

This study is aimed to look into the effects of teenage pregnancy to the educational
development of students and out-of-school youth in Miagao Iloilo. Particularly it aims to answer
the following problems.

1. What is the demographic profile in terms of age, age when pregnant, educational
attainment, status, type of school attended and economic background of the respondents.

2. What are the causes of teenage pregnancy among the students and out-of-school youth
in Miagao Iloilo.

3. Is there a significant difference on the educational development of teenage pregnancy

when grouped according to age, educational attainment , status, type of school attended and
economic background of the respondents.
Hypothesis

The following null- hypotheses were formulated to guide the study:

1. There is no significant difference on the educational development of teenage pregnancy when
grouped according to age, educational attainment, status, type of school attended, and economic
background.
 2. The causes of teenage pregnancy has no significant effect on the educational
development of students and out-of-school youth in Miagao Iloilo.

Conceptual Framework

Due to the increasing cases of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines and found out on this last
decade that Philippines has the highest case all through the Asian region. Filipino communities,
families and teenagers must be smart enough to counter the phenomenon.

The schematic diagram in Fig 1 shows the

variables reflected to the 1st box. These are independent variables which point out the major
causes of teenage pregnancy and that are family, community, peers and church involvement.
 
In the 2nd box is the consequence of teenage pregnancy and that is effect of educational
development. This is the dependent variable.  An independent variables or combination of these
can be the cause of teenage pregnancy considering that Filipino families usually offer sex
education to their teenagers truncated halfway which usually misunderstood, or never touched
about sex, instead leave their teenagers to learn out of their initiatives which usually mislead and
might make them submit to early sex. 

Community has a big role on teenage pregnancy. Teenagers who are exposed to the society
where sex is tolerated and lots of teenagers are pregnant might convinced them to do the same.
Peers and friends of teenagers might be one cause, which happen to go with peers that having a
positive attitude towards early and or premarital sex but no knowledge yet about dealing sex
which result to teenage pregnancy. The dependent variables of the respondents indicate the effect
of causes of teenage pregnancy to the educational development of students and out of school
youth. These are teenagers who got pregnant but determine to pursue their studies in spite of the
hassle brought about being in the school and having a child to rear and earn a degree after all
while others can’t. These are also teenagers especially out of school youth who never have the
chance to go back school after pregnancy.

Figure I. A Schematic diagram of the independent and dependent variables on Teenage

Pregnancy: Its effect on the Educational Development of Students and Out- Of – School Youth
in Miagao Iloilo.

Definition of Keywords

The following terms are defined for smooth progress of understanding and clarity of the major
concepts used in the study. Cause of teenage pregnancy- is the producer of an effect, result or
consequence.

Economic Status– means family income, parental educational level, parental occupation, and
social status community.

Educational Development– is the possible trend, progress on their school performance of

students or out-of-school youth/teenagers who have been pregnant

Significance of the Study

The study will be conducted to find out the extent of how extreme is the effect of the
major causes of teenage pregnancy to the educational development of students and out-of-school
youth in Miagao Iloilo. The result of this study is beneficial to students and out-of-school youth,
to the parents, teachers, to the community, school administrators, researchers and other interested
individuals because this can serve as empirical data where suggestion of minimizing teenage
pregnancy in the community can be taken.

The study will also benefit students who still are at school because it will  give them
information about the cause and possible effects of teenage pregnancy  to their studies once they
got pregnant. In one way or in another this paper will guide them to focus first their attention to
their studies rather than giving priority to their romantic affairs with boyfriends.

Scope and Delimitation

The study is delimited to students who have been pregnant at their teens (15-19) years old
and living in Miagao Iloilo.The subjects were drawn to the students who have been pregnant and
or have been a student on their teenager days and living in Miagao Iloilo. The study focused on
the extent of major causes of teenage pregnancy which are family, peers, community, and church
involvement, with the educational development of students and out-of-school youth in Miagao
Iloilo.

The perception of the teenager to the effects of major causes of teenage pregnancy were
limited to educational development only. This was the dependent variables of the study. The
dependent variables of the respondents indicate the effects of educational development among
students in school and out-of-school youth. These are teenagers who got pregnant and pursued
their studies in spite of the hassle of having in the school and having a child to rear. There are
also teenagers who got pregnant tried to go to school and earned a vocation plus degree. While
others did not. There are also teenagers especially out-of-school youth who never have the
chance to go to school after pregnancy.