Factors of Teenage Pregnancy Out of Marriage from The Perspective of Social Work Students

Abstract

Social problems that occur in teenagers nowadays have become an unhealthy phenomenon in society. The social problems occurred involve misconduct such as teenagers having free sex resulting in pregnancy and so on. The free sex activities carried out by teenagers who get pregnant out of wedlock have contributed to the increase in the number of abortions and baby disposal in the country. Thus, this study aims to explore the factors and effects of teenage pregnant out of wedlock according to the perspective of students. The objective of this study was to identify the factors of teenage pregnancy out of wedlock. The design of this study was qualitative by using depth interview techniques. The informants of this study consisted of six social work students from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. This study was conducted at the Faculty of Sciences and Humanities. The data for this study were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed that the factors of teenagers getting pregnant out of wedlock were the influence of peers, parenting style, self -desire and lastly the influence of the mass media. These occurring factors have affected teenagers who experience it. The effects that occur are the impact on the emotional and mental well -being of teenagers, on the health of teenagers and the impact on national development.