PERCEIVED INFLUENCE OF PRE-MARITAL PREGNANCY ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS OF FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ABEOKUTA, OGUN STATE

Abstract

Prevalence of pre-marital pregnancy in colleges of education, school of nursing and even polytechnics nowadays is increasing. This calls for attention as it draws the nation’s educational system backward. Sequel to this, the researchers were prompted to look into the academic achievement, social and emotional health effect of pre-marital pregnancy among students of Federal College of Education, Abeokuta, Ogun State.. Simple random technique was adopted for the selection of one hundred and twenty (120) nursing mothers and pregnant young ladies from the College. A self-developed questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.85 was used to collect data while the data collected were analyzed with the use of percentage and inferential statistics of Chi-square. All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study showed that there was strong association between pre-marital pregnancy and academic achievements, social and emotional health of the students. It was recommended that health educators should continue to sensitise the students through seminars, workshops and health talks on the effects of premarital pregnancy on their academic achievements as well as their social and emotional health.