Authors:S. Priyadharshini, Rejani Thudalikunnil Gopalan Pages: 1 - 6 Abstract: Marital Stability is interpreted as whether a couple in a marriage remains together, instead of separating or getting divorced. It is also called as marital longevity or duration of marriage. The objective of the study was to find the relationship between marriage duration and socio demographic variables of married couples in India. Thirty married couples were randomly selected using stratified random sampling. Three groups were formed based on the duration of the marriage such as married for 10 to 20 years, 21 to 30 years and 31 to 40 years. The respondents were asked about their demographic information like age, education, occupation, income and age at marriage. Data analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The result indicated a negative correlation between length of marriage and education which means higher the education lesser the length of marriage. The role of education, income and age at marriage on marital stability was discussed and it was concluded that not only socio-demograhic factors, but also social and psychological factors to be considered to interpret the marital stability. PubDate: 2020-01-04 DOI: 10.9734/ajmah/2019/v17i330166
Authors:Michael Ifeanyi Onwubuariri, Terhemen Kasso Pages: 1 - 5 Abstract: Background: Any pregnancy occurring in a young woman who has not reached her 20th birthday is considered as a teenage pregnancy. Globally, approximately a tenth of all births are to women younger than 20 years old and more than 90% of such births occur in developing countries. Socioeconomic deprivation, low contraceptive usage and early marriage are common contributing factors. Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence, pattern and predisposing factors to teenage pregnancy at University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Methodology: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of 198 cases of teenage pregnancies managed at University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), from 1st January 2008 to 31st December 2015. Results: The teenage pregnancy prevalence rate was 15 per 1,000 deliveries (1.5%). Low level of education (below secondary) was seen in 81.3% of the women. A socio-cultural factor like early marriage was noted in 56.1% of the women and only 26.8% of the teenage mothers had ever used any form of contraception. Conclusion: The teenage pregnancy rate in Port-Harcourt showed a downward trend. Contraceptive awareness creation for teenagers, implementation of teenage-friendly policies, education of the girl child coupled with promotion of moral and sex education will further reduce the trend. PubDate: 2020-01-02 DOI: 10.9734/ajmah/2019/v17i330165
Authors:Jombo; Henry Effiong, Alphonsus Udo Idung, Victory Edet Iyanam Pages: 1 - 9 Abstract: Knowledge and beliefs a community holds about mental illness, has remarkable impact on help seeking path to care and stigmatizing attitudes expressed towards the mentally ill. Aims: This study examines causal attributions, the perceptions and attitudes towards mental illness and the help seeking behaviour of a community in the south-south region of Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This is cross sectional descriptive study which was conducted among residents of Ekom Iman community in Akwa Ibom State in the South-South region of Nigeria between March, 2019 and July, 2019. Multistage sampling technique was employed to select the study participants. Causal belief, attitude toward mental illness and help seeking behaviour were assessed using a structured questionnaire. Results: A total of 130 respondents participated in the study. The average age of respondents was 31.62±8.2 years, consisting of 64.4% males and 35.6% females. Majority, 74.6% had secondary education. Poor knowledge of mental illness and stigmatizing attitudes are common. Most of the respondents prefer to keep a high social distance from the mentally ill and are unwilling to maintain close social contacts with them expressed as refusal to share a room (74.7%), marry (92.5%), keeping friendship with them (66.4%). Many believe psychoactive substance abuse (86.2%), brain illnesses/trauma (55.4%) and supernatural factors (72.6%) are etiologic to mental illness. Most respondents considered faith healers (64.3%) and orthodox medical professionals (30.8%) as first choices of treatment and the options best able to treat them. Conclusion: Causal beliefs of mental illness affects help seeking behavior. Poor knowledge and exposure to mental illness was common. Attitudes towards mental illness were generally negative and stigmatizing. Multidisciplinary community interventions are required to ensure high social acceptance and preference for orthodox professional treatment of mental illness. PubDate: 2019-12-28 DOI: 10.9734/ajmah/2019/v17i330164