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Adolescence, a transition period from childhood to adulthood forms the foundation of health in later life. The adolescence period which should have been characterised by good health is often marred with life-threatening and irreparable consequences of public health concern. There is ample evidence about the determinants and effects of teen pregnancy, but it is fragmented and incomplete, especially in Sub-Sahara Africa.
This narrative inquiry, involved in-depth interviews with 16 pregnant adolescents, who were recruited from a peri-urban district in Southern Ghana using purposive and snowball techniques in health facilities and communities respectively. The audio recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed manually using content analysis. Many pregnant adolescents are silent victims of a hash socio-economic environment, in which they experience significant financial deprivation, parental neglect and sexual abuse.
Also, negative experiences of some adolescent girls such as scolding, flogging by parents, stigmatisation and rejection by peers and neighbors result in grieve, stress and contemplation of abortion and or suicide.
However, adolescents did not consider abortion as the best option with regard to their pregnancy. Rather, family members provided adolescents with critical support as they devise strategies such as avoiding people, depending on God and praying to cope with their pregnancy. Adolescent pregnancy occurred through consensual sex, transactional sex and sexual abuse.
