“We were girls but suddenly became mothers”: Evaluating the effects of teenage motherhood on girl’s educational attainment in the Volta Region

Abstract

Evidence suggests that teenage motherhood undermines human capital development such as the education of young girls in developing economies. Teenage motherhood is associated with school dropout due to stigmatization and inadequacy of finance to support their studies and the need to care for their child. While teenage pregnancy is topical among research areas in Ghana, there is a dearth of literature on the issue in the Kpando Municipality of Ghana’s Volta region. This study examined the predisposing factors to teenage motherhood as well as the consequences of teenage motherhood on the education of adolescent mothers in the Kpando Municipality. The descriptive case study design, with a mixed-method approach, was adopted. Data were obtained with the aid of structured interview guides from 85 teenage mothers through purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The study revealed that poverty is the principal predisposing factor to teenage pregnancy and teenage motherhood in the municipality. The study further revealed that 79% of the teen mothers have dropped out of school, thereby placing them in a dreadful position as far as their education and human capital development are concerned. In cognizance of the life-changing impact of education on the lives of teenage mothers, the authors recommend that barriers to school re-entry such as stigmatization should be addressed through public sensitization. Moreover, livelihoods should be improved through agricultural and informal sector development policies to revamp the economic activities of the people, since poverty was found as a major predisposing factor to teenage pregnancy in the municipality.