A Comparative Study of Characteristics of Adolescent and Adult Family Planning Acceptors in Lagos

Abstract

A comparative study of adolescent and adult new acceptors of family planning at a family health clinic of a primary care project in Lagos over an eleven-year period, showed only 0.8% of acceptors to be adolescents & 19 years. It found a statistically significant smaller proportion of older adolescents than adults without education, but a greater proportion of adolescents with at least secondary school education. Significantly fewer adolescents were in polygamous unions or in professional occupations. The gravidity, parity, and number of children alive was expectably lower among the adolescent acceptors. More adolescent acceptors had previously practised abstinence as a means of contraception. The two most common methods accepted at the clinic by both groups was the IUD and the pill, but none of the adolescents contemplated stopping childbearing. The implications of the findings for family planning services for adolescents are discussed. © 1992, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.