Social Environmental Factor of Unwanted Pregnancy: An Experience of Mothers and Adolescents with An Unwanted Pregnancy

Unwanted pregnancy among adolescents is a global issue in urban and rural areas around the world. There are many factors that influence the incident of unwanted pregnancy. This study intends to identify the social environmental factors that cause unwanted pregnancies among adolescents. A qualitative research design was employed to gain mothers’ and adolescents’ perspectives on their experiences of the social environmental factors in unwanted pregnancy. Semi-structured interviews with five Malay mothers and five Malay adolescents took place in a government shelter home, workplaces, and their homes in Selangor. This study employed a thematic analysis to analyse the results. The findings indicate that the four themes of social environmental factors causing unwanted pregnancies among adolescents are (a) family structure, (b) couple problems, (c) father’s attention, and (d) peer pressure. All themes are significant in influencing unwanted pregnancies among adolescents. This study provided insights about the hard times, challenges, and stressors that make the adolescents feel uncomfortable and stressed, hence they find someone else to help them ease such feelings. Although unwanted pregnancy is a worldwide issue, the family and the caregiver should pay more attention to the adolescents because it will result in stress and adolescents with a disrupted family structure have an increased risk of unwanted pregnancy. These adolescents may specially benefit from specific preventive programmes in order to reduce the number of adverse outcomes