Prevalence and Factors Associated with Teen Pregnancy in Vietnam: Results from Two National Surveys (WITHDRAWN)

Background:

Approximately 16 million adolescents ages 15 to 19 become pregnant each year, constituting 11% of all births worldwide. Teen pregnancy, regarded as a significant problem in many Western nations for several decades, has emerged only recently as a social problem in Vietnam because of the centuries-old tradition of arranged early marriage. While data about teen pregnancy can be approximated using the national birth registration system, it is impossible to gauge precisely the prevalence of teen pregnancy in Vietnam because of its associated stigma. In popular media, stories about pregnant teenagers are often narrated with a melodramatic tone, adding to the anxiety of the larger Vietnamese society regarding sexual behavior among adolescents who are exposed to an unprecedented influx of Western sexual norms. This study aims to address this gap in knowledge by examining the prevalence of and selected factors associated with teen pregnancy in Vietnam. Two broad questions were asked: what is the prevalence of teen pregnancy in contemporary Vietnam; and what selected social, family, and individual factors are associated with teen pregnancy in Vietnam?

Methods:

The study utilized two waves of the Survey Assessment of Vietnamese Youth (VNSAAVY) to answer the two research questions. The first VNSAVY (VNSAVY1) was conducted in 2003 with 7,584 youths aged between 14 and 25 years. The second VNSAVY (VNSAVY2) was conducted in 2008 with 10,004 youths aged between 14 and 25. This paper utilizes VNSAVY subsamples that include teenage girls, ages 14 to 19 years old. Our analytic sample sizes includes 2,325 teenagers for VNSAVY1 (30.7% of the overall sample) and 3,287 teenagers for VNSAVY2(32.7% of the overall sample). This paper utilizes VNSAVY subsamples that include teenage girls, ages 14 to 19 years old. Our analytic sample sizes includes 2,325 teenagers for VNSAVY1 (30.7% of the overall sample) and 3,287 teenagers for VNSAVY2(32.7% of the overall sample). Key factors examined include parental divorce, sexual education, Internet use, domestic violence, early sexual debut, positive outlook, depressive symptoms, negative  and positive peer norms.

Results:

Results of this study show that the prevalence of pregnancy among Vietnamese teenagers in the surveys was stable at 4%, or 40 pregnancies per 1000 adolescent girls aged 14 to 19. Age, experience of domestic violence, and early sexual debut were positively correlated with higher odds of teenage pregnancy for both survey cohorts; however, being an ethnic minority, educational attainment, sexual education at school, internet use, and depressive symptoms were significantly related to teenage pregnancy only in the 2008 cohort.

 

Conclusion and implication:

Vietnam should develop new formal and informal services in rural areas to support teen mothers. The country might also need long-term community-based intervention programs that employ local people (commune health staff, village elders, local monks/nuns/priests/spiritual leaders) rather than Western public health campaigns and measures. Promoting education and developing strong, focused sex education programs at schools in rural and/or mountainous areas may be important as well.