A comparative analysis of depression between pregnant and non-pregnant adolescents in a southwestern town in Nigeria

BackgroundAdolescence constitutes a risk factor for mental health problems, and this may be further complicated by pregnancy. The rate of adolescent pregnancy is still extremely high in the sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria. Pregnancy and mental health problems during adolescence constitute double vulnerability for negative outcomes for the adolescents and their offspring. MethodologyThe study was cross-sectional in design and it compared prevalence of depression and associated factors among pregnant and non-pregnant adolescents. It was conducted in Osogbo metropolis, Osun State, Southwest, Nigeria. The study population comprised pregnant adolescents (aged 15-19 years) attending antenatal care (ANC) in selected formal and informal health facilities. Non-pregnant adolescents who were equally attending services at the facilities were recruited as the control group. Information was obtained from the adolescents with the use of a structured questionnaire and data was analysed with IBM-SPSS version 21 software. ResultsThree hundred and thirty-four respondents (167 per group) were involved in the study; the pregnant adolescents had a mean age ({+/-}SD) of 17.92 ({+/-}1.13) years while the non-pregnant adolescents had a mean age of 17.70 ({+/-}1.23) years. The prevalence of depression among the pregnant adolescents was 8.4% while that of the non-pregnant adolescents was 3.0%. The result showed a statistically significant association between pregnancy status and depression among the adolescents (p= 0.033). Living arrangement was the only socio-demographic variable that had significant relationship with depression among the pregnant adolescents while living arrangement and employment status had significant relationships with depression among the non-pregnant adolescents. History of mental illness, childhood sexual abuse and anxiety symptoms showed significant relationship with depression among pregnant adolescents, however, only anxiety symptoms showed significant relationship with depression among non-pregnant adolescents. ConclusionThe study concluded that the prevalence of depression is significantly higher among pregnant adolescents with similarities and differences in the factors associated with depression in the two groups.