Teenage pregnancy in Malta

Abstract

Introduction Underage pregnancy may blight a young woman’s life. Teenage pregnancy rates vary widely across the world and have poorer pregnancy outcomes than non-teen pregnancies. Local Personal, Social and Career Development Education (PSCD) teaching is stipulated per curricula. This study was carried out by the Divisions of Education and Health in order to ascertain whether there are any differences in teenage pregnancy rates between State and non-State schools.

Methods Ethical approval and data protection approval was obtained. The Health Division, identified pregnancies with mothers with age ≤18 years, for 2011-2015. Secondary schoosl attended were identified and an anonymised dataset was then passed on to the principal investigator for analysis.

Results Teenage deliveries were significantly less in Non-State when compared to State schools, for each year studied, as well as for the aggregate of the total (p<0.0001). There was also a declining trend for teenage pregnancies in Non-State schools only (p=0.02).

Discussion Abstinence-only sex education is a form of sex education that teaches abstinence from sex only. “Abstinence-plus” programs encourage sexual abstinence as the most effective means of HIV prevention and unwanted pregnancy avoidance, but also advocate condom use and partner reduction. It is suggested that the PSCD teaching methods in the different schools are compared as well as other factors that may reduce teenage pregnancy.