Abstract
Although the global fertility has been declined dramatically during the past three decades,nevertheless, adolescents’ pregnancy and early motherhood remain a problem in many societies. This is a qualitative methods employing phenomenology approach, aims to explore early child bearing phenomenon, especially on how and to what extent early childbearing may affect women’s fertility behavior and later socio-economic outcome. Women who had their first child before 19 years old was chosen as the key informants. Six women residing in Semarang were interviewed to represent early child bearers in an urban area, while nine women residing in Wonosobo were selected as samples of rural area. Triangulation was made to village health volunteers and community leaders.
As early marriage is common as prelude of early child bearing in Indonesia, it is important to observe how it’s occurred in urban and rural settings. The reason of early marriage was different between two contexts, urban and rural. Whilst economic reason appeared as the strongest force of early marriage in urban setting, social forces was found as the major reason in rural context. Fear of their daughter becoming a spinster forced the parents to send their daughter to marry at a very young age to comply the society norms.
The results of the present analysis also confirm that teenage motherhood is reproduced across generation and inherited through several mechanisms: family environment, socio-cultural and biological pathways. Early child bearing was denoted as a fearful experience for most women but more stressful for older generation. Financial difficulties and child rearing was among the greatest challenges for early child bearers in all generation. Although started childbearing early, cumulative fertility outcome of both urban and rural women remain low. Consistent contraceptive use inhibits the fertility of Indonesian women beside breastfeeding practices.
Moderator: Mr. Alongkorn Pekalee
January 31, 2018 Time: 14:00 – 15:00 hrs. Room Srabua (109)
