Teenage Motherhood, Child Survival and Child Health: Evidences from National Family Health Survey, India

In the light of United Nation's specific programme of Child Survival and Safe Motherhood (CSSM), the subject of ‘teenage motherhood’ has been gaining special attention. This is because, the very environment for child birth is not conducive and safe in the teenage, having the highest probability of hazardous consequences to mother as well as to child from both medical and social point of view. Mothers at these ages are much more vulnerable to several social customs and beliefs that hamper the utilisation of many of the available services. In this paper, country level data from National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 1992-93, India has been analysed to find out the factors associated with motherhood in teen ages, and the determinants of survival and health status of children to teenage mothers. The proportion of teenage mothers was found not to vary much with the place of residence. However, those who are illiterates or mere primary school completed, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and scheduled tribes constituted a relatively higher proportion of teenage mothers than women in other categories. It was observed that about 12.4 per cent of all pregnancies end with stillbirths and abortions. Evidences have shown that the frequency of PMBs (premature births) and certain delivery complications are found to be much higher to the mothers in teen age as compared to those in higher age groups. From the multivariate analyses it was observed that women’s education and standard of living have very significant and strong bearing on the demographic and health behaviour of the teenage women and their pregnancy outcomes. [GIDR WP 134]