青少女之生育問题

Adolescent Childbearing in Taiwan

10.6288/CJPH1998-17-05-03

李孟智(Meng-Chih Lee)

青少年 ； 生育 ； 性 ； adolescents ； childbearing ； sexuality

中華公共衛生雜誌

17卷5期（1998 / 10 / 01）

381 - 387

繁體中文

台灣15~19歲青少女年齡別生育率在近十年皆維持在千分之17左右，居亞洲已開發國東之冠，而1994年相同年齡層有偶青少女年齡別生育率更超越美國，高達千分之726，乃因決定繼續懷孕的青少女中85%會在生產前結婚所致。台灣既往研究結果顯示：青少女懷孕會導致多重不良後果；包括非志願結婚、婚姻不穩定、在青少年期重複生育，以及高比率的低出生體重兒、早產兒、及新生兒死亡率。本土研究亦顯示；青少女生育之相關因素包括性知識不足而性態度和性行為卻日趨開放，對青少年之避孕服務不普及，青少女家庭屬低社會經濟階層，以及青少女過早離家在外居住。此外，台灣青少女之男伴年齡普遍偏高且教育程度偏低，其相互結合進而生育的過程及機轉值得進一步探討，其中性侵犯為可能的原因之一。青少女生育防制之道在於加強政府組織及民間組織之性教育功能，提供青少年避孕服務和生涯發展輔導，及對高危險群施予重點防制。若青少年性行為的確不可能禁絕，則避免其懷孕生子應為務實的努力方向。

In Taiwan, the age-specific fertility rate for adolescent women aged 15-19 years has remained at 17/1000 in recent 10 years, which is the highest among developed countries in Asia. Moreover, There was a surprisingly high age-specific fertility rate for married women aged 15-19 years at 726/1000 in 1994, which was even higher than that of the United States. This figure could be explained by the fact that more than 85% of pregnant adolescents who decided to carry their pregnancy to term got married prior to delivery. Previous studies in Taiwan indicated that adolescent childbearing causes a lot of adverse outcomes including unwanted and unstable marriage, repeated childbearing during adolescence, and increased risks of having low birth weight and preterm births, and neonatal mortality. Studies in Taiwan also showed that adolescent childbearing is associated with their poor knowledge but open attitude and behavior on sexuality, inadequate contraceptive services for the adolescents in need, and low socioeconomic status of adolescents families. In addition, many fathers of infants born to adolescent women were adults with a low educational level. The large age difference between the adolescent mothers and their partners could be due to sexual assault. The effective strategies for adolescent childbearing prevention range from sex education to the direct provision of contraceptive supplies, and to life options programs, especially for the adolescents with high risk. It is believed that reducing the incidence of adolescent childbearing is more important and practical than prohibiting adolescent sexual activity.