Factors Associated with Protective Behavior of Teenage Pregnancy, Mueang District, Kanchanaburi Province

Abstract

Objectives: To study the association between social factors, health literacy for adolescent pregnancy prevention, and adolescent pregnancy prevention behaviors.

Methods: This analytic study involved 154 female students from grades 1-3 in public schools in Muang District, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. Stratified random sampling was used to select participants from each school in proportion to their size. The research instruments included questionnaires on social factors questionnaire health literacy for adolescent pregnancy prevention and. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests to identify factors associated with adolescent pregnancy prevention behaviors.

Results: Most of the participants (72.26%) had adolescent pregnancy prevention behaviors at a high level. Social factors, including family relationships and life satisfaction, were not significantly associated with adolescent pregnancy prevention behaviors. However, health literacy factors that were significantly associated with adolescent pregnancy prevention behaviors (p<0.05) included: access to health information and health service, health communication for expertise, self-health management, media and information literacy, and appropriate decision-making.

Conclusions: Families and schools should prioritize providing counseling to adolescents when   they have sexual health or sexual adjustment problems. They should also support adolescents     in developing health literacy through school-based education. The focus should be on providing access to information and communication on sex education to empower students with knowledge and positive coping mechanisms.