RESULTS from a survey involving 881 girls between the ages of 12 and 17 attending women’s centres in seven parishes have shown all the girls saying their pregancies were “unplanned” or “accidental”. The data also showed that the majority of the girls’ mothers had themselves been teenage mothers.

The information contained in the annual report of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation for 2006/07 was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

A breakdown of the figures showed that of the 196 girls researched at the Kingston centre, 83 girls or 42.35 per cent entered the centre at 16 years of age while 151 or 77.55 per cent had reached the high school level. Seventy-eight per cent lived with their mother alone. Interestingly 118 of the participants’ mothers had also been teenage mothers.

All 196 parents and guardians said they were upset and disappointed. All 196 girls stated at first interview that their pregnancy was an “accident”.

Meanwhile, of the 155 girls interviewed from the Mandeville centre, 58 girls or 38.06 per cent entered the centre at 16 years of age with 120 or 77.42 per cent of them reaching high school.

One hundred and twenty or 77.42 per cent of the mothers of the participants said they themselves were teenage mothers also and 56 of the girls lived with their mother alone.

Of the 155 parents and guardians interviewed, 145 or 93.55 per cent said they were upset and disappointed. In this instance, 153 or 98.71 per cent of the participants said their pregnancy was an ‘accident’ while seven of the girls or 4.52 per cent said they were raped.

A similar survey at the Montego Bay Centre involving 116 girls showed that 40 girls or 35.34 per cent entered the centre at 16 years of age, wile 77 girls or 66.38 per cent had been at the high school level. One hundred and ten of the mothers of those girls were themselves teenage mothers. All 116 girls said the pregnancy was unplanned.

Meanwhile over at the St Ann’s Bay Centre, of the 72 girls surveyed, all said their pregnancy was an ‘accident’. In addition, 45 of the mothers of the 72 girls had themselves also been teenage parents. Thirty-eight of those girls lived with their mother alone.

And at the Port Antonio Centre where 25 girls were interviewed, all said the pregnancy was unplanned while 18 had reached the high school level. Nine of the mothers of the 25 girls were themselves teenage mothers.

At the Savanna-la-mar centre, 66 of the 85 girls were highschool drop-outs. All the girls said the pregnancy was an ‘accident’. 51 of the participant’s mothers were also teenage mothers.

And at the Spanish Town centre, of the 116 female teenagers surveyed 93 or 81.03 per cent were high school drop-outs. 96 or 82.76 per cent of participant’s mothers were also teenage mothers. All the girls said their pregnancy was ‘unplanned’.

Convenor of Hear the Children Cry, Betty-Ann Blaine, commenting on the data said there was an undeniable trend.

“There is definitely a trend over many decades.What we are having now is what I call an inter-generational cycle it is what we have been seeing over many decades. There is definitely a pattern, the mother has a child at this stage and then the child has one at that stage and it has to do with the level of education,” she noted.

“What you will find is that they all have attained a minimal level of education; it is a pattern,” she noted.

“Stable family life, parenting, intervention, monitoring that’s what is missing from their lives. They don’t have the skills or support systems to make right choices, the safe sex ads are few and far between and not effective enough,” she said.

She added: “We don’t realise when all is said and done that what is really causing all of this is the destruction and the erosion of family life in this country.”

According to Blaine, healthy sexual behaviour and being able to make the right choices come out of education and the communication with parents.

“You will see the correlation between poor family life, the lack of proper supervision in the home, the fact that their mothers had a baby before, the level of education and the fact that they are making the wrong choices and getting pregnant,” she added.

According to Blaine a preemptive approach should be taken to prevent girls from getting to the stage where they become high school dropouts. She said the indicators of who will drop out are usually many and telling and quick action on behalf of educators and guidance counsellors can prevent many girls from falling through the cracks.

“If we were to be serious about the trends we are seeing and put resources into fighting the problems I believe we would see change; we see the warning signs, a lot of them have economic problems and this drives the sexual activity,” she pointed out.