The Media and Adolescent Reproductive Health: Examining the Role of the Media in Promoting Teenage Pregnancy in Ghana

Abstract

The study sought to examine the role media plays in teenage pregnancy. The study sought to assess the extent to which media is contributing to the problem of teenage pregnancy in Ghana by carefully reviewing what has been done in the past. We found that the media has become an important socialization, education information tool. The study found that in recent times, sexual education has become absent in schools and in homes, and there has been a major shift from traditional sources of sexual education and information to the media. Unfortunately, as teenagers in their formative years, modelling media images is a daily behaviour of teenagers. Media has been seen to be portraying a lot of sexual content using two important channels. Television and social media (Facebook). By continually been exposed to these images, teenagers are influenced to engage in sexual activity that tends to lead to early pregnancy.The paper proposes a way forward, as media can help reshape the behaviour of teenagers who are struggling to figure out the rapid changes taking place in their bodies. The paper concludes on the suggestion that media should take up a more formal sexual education and information role and avoid explicit images that encourage teenagers to engage in sexual activity.Thesis