Mebrahtu, Helen;
Chimbindi, Natsayi;
Zuma, Thembelihle;
Dreyer, Jaco;
Mthiyane, Nondumiso;
Seeley, Janet;
Shahmanesh, Maryam;
... Harling, Guy; + view all
(2024)
Incident pregnancy and mental health among adolescent girls and young women in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: an observational cohort study.
International Journal of Adolescence and Youth
, 29
(1)
10.1080/02673843.2024.2371414.
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Abstract
Pregnancy can place adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) at risk of poor mental health. However, evidence linking youth pregnancy to mental health in resource-limited settings is limited, especially where HIV incidence is high. We analysed a population-representative cohort of AGYW aged 13–25 in rural KwaZulu-Natal to assess how adolescent pregnancy predicts subsequent mental health. Among 1851 respondents, incident pregnancy (self-reported past-12-month) rose from 0.7% at age 14% to 22.1% by 18. Probable common mental disorder (CMD; 14-item Shona Symptom Questionnaire) prevalence was 19.1%. In adjusted Poisson regression recent pregnancy was associated with slightly higher probable CMD (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] 1.19, 95%CI 0.96–1.49), and stronger association among 13–15 year-olds (aPR 3.25, 95%CI 1.50– 7.03), but not with HIV serostatus. These findings suggest a possible incremental mental health impact of being pregnant earlier than peers, pointing to the need for age-appropriate mental health interventions for AGYW in resource-limited settings.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Incident pregnancy and mental health among adolescent girls and young women in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: an observational cohort study |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/02673843.2024.2371414 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2024.2371414 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4. 0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
| Keywords: | Adolescent; young adult; women; common mental disorders; South Africa; pregnancy |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health > Infection and Population Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10194152 |
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