SOCIAL RESILIENCE OF ADOLESCENT GIRLS TO SEX, TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND MOTHERHOOD IN GHANA

This study is about older adolescent girls and how they experience sex, cope with teenage pregnancy and early motherhood in Begoro, the district capital of Fanteakwa in the Eastern region of Ghana. Fanteakwa has one of the high teenage pregnancy rates (16%) in the country. The study investigated the socio-demographic background of adolescent girls in Begoro, the social context that influenced their sexual behaviour and experience, and how non-pregnant and ever-pregnant girls build resilience to sex, teenage pregnancy and motherhood. Guided by a social resilience framework, the study focuses on how older adolescent girls access resources within their social environment and how they utilize these resources to avoid, overcome and or adjust positively to the exigencies of sex, pregnancy and motherhood in Ghana. The study employs the mixed method approach, involving the simultaneous use of the quantitative and qualitative approaches. Starting with the collection of the quantitative data, a survey of five hundred adolescent girls (15-19 years) was conducted. This was followed by the qualitative approach where data were gathered through in-depth interviews with twenty adolescent girls purposively selected from the survey respondents. In-depth interviews were conducted with twelve adults (six males and six females), twenty adolescent girls and six adolescent boys in addition to two focus group discussions with eight boys in each group. The in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were held with adult and adolescent boys in the community to provide the community‟s perspective on adolescent girls‟ sexual experience. The findings indicate that adolescent girls live in a changing social environment, with the emergence of new agents of socialization in sexual and reproductive issues. Adolescent girls now live in a society where they have access to multiple sources of information to guide their sexual behaviour.