IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0101034.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unintended Pregnancies among Young Women Living in Urban Slums: Evidence from a Prospective Study in Nairobi City, Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Donatien Beguy
  • Joyce Mumah
  • Lindsey Gottschalk

Abstract

Background: Despite the significant proportion of young people residing in slum communities, little attention has been paid to the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) challenges they face during their transition to adulthood within this harsh environment. Little is known about the extent to which living in extreme environments, like slums, impact SRH outcomes, especially during this key developmental period. This paper aims to fill this research gap by examining the levels of and factors associated with unintended pregnancies among young women aged 15–22 in two informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. Methods: We use data from two waves of a 3-year prospective survey that collected information from adolescents living in the two slums in 2007–2010. In total, 849 young women aged 15–22 were considered for analysis. We employed Cox and logistic regression models to investigate factors associated with timing of pregnancy experience and unintended pregnancy among adolescents who were sexually active by Wave 1 or Wave 2. Findings: About two thirds of sexually experienced young women (69%) have ever been pregnant by Wave 2. For 41% of adolescents, the pregnancies were unintended, with 26% being mistimed and 15% unwanted. Multivariate analysis shows a significant association between a set of factors including age at first sex, schooling status, living arrangements and timing of pregnancy experience. In addition, marital status, schooling status, age at first sex and living arrangements are the only factors that are significantly associated with unintended pregnancy among the young women. Conclusions: Overall, this study underscores the importance of looking at reproductive outcomes of early sexual initiation, the serious health risks early fertility entail, especially among out-of school girls, and sexual activity in general among young women living in slum settlements. This provides greater impetus for addressing reproductive behaviors among young women living in resource-poor settings such as slums.

Suggested Citation

  • Donatien Beguy & Joyce Mumah & Lindsey Gottschalk, 2014. "Unintended Pregnancies among Young Women Living in Urban Slums: Evidence from a Prospective Study in Nairobi City, Kenya," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-10, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0101034
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101034
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0101034
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0101034&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0101034?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donatien Beguy & Philippe Bocquier & Eliya Msiyaphazi Zulu, 2010. "Circular migration patterns and determinants in Nairobi slum settlements," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 23(20), pages 549-586.
    2. Place, Frank & Adato, Michelle & Hebinck, Paul, 2007. "Understanding Rural Poverty and Investment in Agriculture: An Assessment of Integrated Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Western Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 312-325, February.
    3. Dodoo, F. Nii-Amoo & Zulu, Eliya M. & Ezeh, Alex C., 2007. "Urban-rural differences in the socioeconomic deprivation-Sexual behavior link in Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(5), pages 1019-1031, March.
    4. Neeru Gupta & Mary Mahy, 2003. "Adolescent childbearing in sub-Saharan Africa," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 8(4), pages 93-106.
    5. Øystein Kravdal, 2002. "Education and fertility in sub-Saharan africa: Individual and community effects," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(2), pages 233-250, May.
    6. Miriam Temin, 2009. "Start With a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health," Working Papers id:2290, eSocialSciences.
    7. Magadi, Monica Akinyi & Madise, Nyovani Janet & Rodrigues, Roberto Nascimento, 2000. "Frequency and timing of antenatal care in Kenya: explaining the variations between women of different communities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 551-561, August.
    8. Rick L. Williams, 2000. "A Note on Robust Variance Estimation for Cluster-Correlated Data," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 645-646, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Egerson Daniel & Adeojo Opeyemi & Omu Ebikaboere Ruth & Orugboh Gabriel., 2020. "Understanding Childbearing for Households in Emerging Slum Communities in Lagos State, Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 4(9), pages 554-560, September.
    2. Emily Smith-Greenaway & Christie Sennott, 2016. "Death and Desirability: Retrospective Reporting of Unintended Pregnancy After a Child’s Death," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(3), pages 805-834, June.
    3. Jennifer Anne Hall & Geraldine Barrett & Tambosi Phiri & Andrew Copas & Address Malata & Judith Stephenson, 2016. "Prevalence and Determinants of Unintended Pregnancy in Mchinji District, Malawi; Using a Conceptual Hierarchy to Inform Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-22, October.
    4. Elizabeth Opiyo Onyango & Susan J. Elliott, 2020. "Bleeding Bodies, Untrustworthy Bodies: A Social Constructionist Approach to Health and Wellbeing of Young People in Kenya," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-19, October.
    5. Kirsten Stoebenau & Sangeetha Madhavan & Seungwan Kim & Carol Wainaina, 2024. "Measuring Union Formalization for a New Generation of Family Demography: A Case Study from Urban Kenya," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 50(1), pages 87-116, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gyimah, Stephen Obeng & Takyi, Baffour K. & Addai, Isaac, 2006. "Challenges to the reproductive-health needs of African women: On religion and maternal health utilization in Ghana," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(12), pages 2930-2944, June.
    2. Goldstone, Jack A. (Голдстоун, Джек) & Korotaev, Andrey (Коротаев, Андрей) & Zinkina, Yulia (Зинькина, Юлия), 2015. "Political Demography of the World Economy: Tropical Africa [Политическая Демография Мировой Экономики: Страны Тропической Африки]," Published Papers mn45, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    3. Monica J. Grant, 2015. "The Demographic Promise of Expanded Female Education: Trends in the Age at First Birth in Malawi," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 41(3), pages 409-438, September.
    4. Øystein Kravdal, 2012. "Further evidence of community education effects on fertility in sub-Saharan Africa," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(22), pages 645-680.
    5. Krause, Werner & Giebler, Heiko, 2020. "Shifting Welfare Policy Positions: The Impact of Radical Right Populist Party Success Beyond Migration Politics," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 56(3), pages 331-348.
    6. Gerben ter Riet & Paula Chesley & Alan G Gross & Lara Siebeling & Patrick Muggensturm & Nadine Heller & Martin Umbehr & Daniela Vollenweider & Tsung Yu & Elie A Akl & Lizzy Brewster & Olaf M Dekkers &, 2013. "All That Glitters Isn't Gold: A Survey on Acknowledgment of Limitations in Biomedical Studies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-6, November.
    7. Doidge, Craig & Andrew Karolyi, G. & Stulz, Rene M., 2007. "Why do countries matter so much for corporate governance?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 1-39, October.
    8. Nicolas Jacquemet & Adam Zylbersztejn, 2014. "What drives failure to maximize payoffs in the lab? A test of the inequality aversion hypothesis," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 18(4), pages 243-264, December.
    9. Liebig, Stefan & Schupp, Jürgen, 2008. "Leistungs- oder Bedarfsgerechtigkeit? Über einen normativen Zielkonflikt des Wohlfahrtsstaats und seiner Bedeutung für die Bewertung des eigenen Erwerbseinkommens," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 59(1), pages 7-30.
    10. Beatrice W. Maina & Benedict O. Orindi & Yandisa Sikweyiya & Caroline W. Kabiru, 0. "Gender norms about romantic relationships and sexual experiences among very young male adolescents in Korogocho slum in Kenya," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 0, pages 1-10.
    11. Jacquemet Nicolas & Zylbersztejn Adam, 2013. "Learning, Words and Actions: Experimental Evidence on Coordination-Improving Information," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 215-247, July.
    12. Julia R. Henly & Susan J. Lambert, 2014. "Unpredictable Work Timing in Retail Jobs," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(3), pages 986-1016, July.
    13. Vassilis A. Efthymiou & George N. Leledakis, 2014. "The price impact of the disposition effect on the ex-dividend day of NYSE and AMEX common stocks," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 711-724, April.
    14. Bharath, Sreedhar & Dahiya, Sandeep & Saunders, Anthony & Srinivasan, Anand, 2007. "So what do I get? The bank's view of lending relationships," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 368-419, August.
    15. Miss Nkunde Mwase, 2012. "How much should I hold? Reserve Adequacy in Emerging Markets and Small Islands," IMF Working Papers 2012/205, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Trinajstic, Masa & Baresa, Suzana & Bogdan, Sinisa, 2018. "Regional Economic Growth And Tourism: A Panel Data Approach," UTMS Journal of Economics, University of Tourism and Management, Skopje, Macedonia, vol. 9(2), pages 145-155.
    17. Opoku Adabor & Enock Kojo Ayesu, 2024. "Ethnic heterogeneity and healthcare utilization: The mediating role of poverty in Ghana," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1655-1682, December.
    18. Robert J. Wellman & Marie-Pierre Sylvestre & Erin K. O’Loughlin & Hartley Dutczak & Annie Montreuil & Geetanjali D. Datta & Jennifer O’Loughlin, 2018. "Socioeconomic status is associated with the prevalence and co-occurrence of risk factors for cigarette smoking initiation during adolescence," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(1), pages 125-136, January.
    19. Amelie F. Constant & Olga Nottmeyer & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2013. "The economics of circular migration," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 3, pages 55-74, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Konara, Palitha & Shirodkar, Vikrant, 2018. "Regulatory Institutional Distance and MNCs' Subsidiary Performance: Climbing up Vs. Climbing Down the Institutional Ladder," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 333-347.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0101034. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.