TEENAGE PARENTHOOD AND CHILD REARING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY TEENAGE SECONDARY SCHOOL MOTHERS

The study examined teenage parenthood and child rearing strategies employed by Teenage Secondary school Students in Kaduna State of Nigeria. The major objective of the study was to determine the child rearing practices employed by teenage mothers and how these affect their educational performance. Four specific objectives were stated which raised four research questions. Four null hypotheses were also formulated. The chosen research design for the study was a survey. A total of 382 teenage mothers, from a population of 2,658 were selected using stratified sampling method. The data collection was collected using a self designed questionnaire called Teenage Parenthood and Child Rearing Strategies in Kaduna state. All the four null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance, and all were rejected.

 The findings showed that Strategies adopted in child rearing have a significant role to play in teenage parenthood responsibilities. Mothers that adopted the strategies of making use of Nannies spend less time with their children, than the mothers who adopted the strategy of personally taking care of their children. It is recommended that spouses of the teenage mothers should employ the assistance of their family members to help lessen the burden mother by assisting them in taking care of the children while they are busy or when the children are unwell and allowing the younger ones in family to help with household chores whenever possible.