Self-confidence

Girls who are low on self confidence are most likely to become pregnant in their teens.

According to a new study at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, girls who are low on self confidence and poor educational future, along with those whose parents have a low level of education, are most likely to become pregnant in their teens.

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This revelation comes days after British gynecologists revealed that many teenage girls, desperate to get pregnant, were approaching them for fertility treatment and most of them had low levels of self confidence and poor educational backgrounds.

"Based on the results of this study, it seems clear that efforts to reduce teen pregnancy must begin long before pregnancy becomes a risk for girls," Tamera Young, the lead researcher said.

"Encouraging and supporting academic success among younger girls and helping young people realize their own power in determining their future" can help in reducing teenage pregnancies, Young added.

Young and her colleagues analyzed data from a survey conducted among eighth standard girls wherein they were questioned about their feelings of self-control, future education and employment goals, their parents' education and occupational levels and whether their parents had high educational expectations for them.

The researchers found that girls who grew up in poverty were more likely to become pregnant during high school, but it was not only financial poverty but also factors like low levels of parent education and less expectations for their daughter's own education that were closely linked to teenage pregnancies.