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This chapter examines the life histories of selected teenage Filipino fathers relative to their experiences of dating, courtship, and the discovery, engagement, and experimentation with risk-taking behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, and premarital sex. Using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), this study conducts family genogram and in-depth semi-structured interviews among eight teenage fathers. In so doing, it interrogates the consequences of sexual behaviors to the well-being of their respective families of orientation as well as the future of their expected family of procreation. The chapter argues how the risks of teenage fatherhood in the Philippines are relatively mitigated by the general conservative culture of Filipino families and the Catholic sense of religious orientation that seems to provide resilience captured in three themed experiences of “natauhan” (realization), “pinangatawanan” (accountability), and “pinanindigan” (owning responsibility). Thus, this chapter unravels the voices of young Filipino teenage fathers who straddles, on the one hand, the risk of premarital sex and pregnancy, and on the other hand, the challenges of responsible parenthood. In conclusion, the chapter provides policy insights on sex education and gender equality training for the vulnerable Filipino youth in the country.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically estimate the effect the costs of an abortion have on the supply of infants relinquished for adoption in the USA.

This paper, using pooled time‐series cross‐section state data, over the years 1982, 1992, and 2000, empirically estimates an adoption supply equation based on the rational choice economic model of fertility.

The empirical results find that increases in the price of an abortion and the enforcement of a Parental Involvement Law decrease the number of infants available for adoption in a state. States that do not fund Medicaid abortions do not have higher rates of infant relinquishment.

One implication of the results in this paper is that to have an abortion or relinquish an infant for adoption are not considered to be substitutes by women with unwanted pregnancies and that for poor women with unwanted pregnancies either an abortion or raising an infant is preferable to relinquishing an infant for adoption. It would be of interest to see whether comparable results occur in other countries which have changed their abortion policies.

If the goal of society is to increase the number of adoptable infants, the conclusions reached in this paper suggest ways to accomplish this goal.

This study aims to examine the characteristics of pregnant women who used methamphetamine to determine the differences in characteristics between teenagers (aged under 20 or 20–25 years) and adult women who used methamphetamine during this period.

This retrospective study extracted data from the medical records of obstetric patients who gave birth between 2011 and 2015 in a tertiary hospital in Thailand. All included patients were diagnosed with amphetamine use disorder. Demographic data, history of antenatal care, history of substance use and psychiatric evaluations were recorded.

Four hundred and twelve patients were recruited for analysis. Of these, 194 (53.4%) did not attend regular antenatal care, 326 (92.1%) had unplanned pregnancies and 42 (12.5%) had a history of abortions. Socially, 47 patients (21.7%) reported drug use in their families and 160 (49.5%) reported a history of parental separation. Compared with the adult and 20–25 years groups, the < 20 years group tended to have a lower educational level, have experienced parental separation and had more regular antenatal care.

Pregnant teenagers with methamphetamine use had psychosocial difficulties. Physicians should be aware of these psychosocial issues, including education and family planning.

These findings showed that pregnant women who used methamphetamine faced psychosocial difficulties, unplanned pregnancies and inadequate antenatal care. Adult and teenage pregnant women who used methamphetamine differed in some ways. For example, teenage pregnant women tended to be of a lower education level, experienced parental separation and had a history of more frequent antenatal care. Further longitudinal research exploring the outcomes of mothers who used methamphetamine and their children is needed to build on the existing evidence.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the hostility many young women who are also mothers experience within their everyday lives.

The paper will draw on qualitative research, incorporating a narrative approach, to illustrate the hostility many young mothers experience on a daily basis. The research design included a focus group, semi-structure interviews and participant observations.

The paper reports the findings of a study that explored the experiences of young women who are also mothers. The author presents the findings that indicate that many young women, who are also young mothers, experience hostile reactions and interactions as part of their everyday lives.

The small sample size means that this study cannot be generalised, but it does contribute to the growing body of qualitative evidence in relation to young mothers.

The findings suggest that there needs to be more recognition and acknowledgement of the hostility young women experience. Such hostility could have deleterious consequences on the young women, their parenting ability and also on the children.

This paper documents the experiences of young women who are also mothers and how they experience hostility as a daily occurrence. The hostility ranged from verbal to non-verbal and how they felt they were being treated, inferences about their sexuality to stereotyping.

Pregnancy is a time of great physiological change. For this reason, the diet of the mother needs to be tailored and carefully managed. For teenagers, the physiologic adjustments are two‐fold; adolescent growth and physiological changes of pregnancy both need to be taken into consideration. The purpose of this paper is to establish whether pregnant teenagers change their diet after conception and which nutritional adjustments are most likely to be made.

In total, 40 closely‐matched Caucasian participants (20 pregnant and 20 non‐pregnant) were recruited from Wythenshawe Hospital, south Manchester and a local high school within the same district. Each participant was asked to complete a background information questionnaire and four‐day food record diary.

Study findings indicate that the diet of pregnant teenagers are substantially better than that of non‐pregnant adolescents. With the exception of vitamin D, intakes of all nutrients are higher in pregnant adolescents compared to non‐pregnant teenagers (p < 0.05), particularly calcium and iron (p < 0.01). Although under‐reporting must be taken into consideration, the diets of both pregnant and non‐pregnant teenagers appear to be deficient in folate and iron. Nutrition interventions are required to improve the diet of adolescents and reinforce the diet of pregnant teenagers.

Although care is taken to exclude incomplete food diaries, a degree of under‐reporting must be taken into consideration when interpreting these findings.

This appears to be the first UK study to compare the dietary habits of pregnant and non‐pregnant adolescents.

It is estimated that approximately 3,000 women develop obstetric fistula, leading to unhealthy pregnancy, early and prolonged labor, and in some cases stillbirth in Tanzania every year. Fistula often compounds the vulnerability of the women who are victims of a poor health facility, early marriage, and other gender gaps.

In this chapter, the author explores the extra-medical causes of fistula in remote locations (Pwani Region) of Tanzania from a practitioner’s perspective. The author considers the stories of four women who experienced fistula. The author interviewed the women over a period of five years between 2013 and 2018. Using narrative analysis, the author examined the interviews.

The narrative analysis indicates that fistula is a product of a gender biased social system that favors men, ultimately limits women’s freedom, stifling their development. Importantly, the main value of this analysis is to promote awareness that aside from medical treatment, social interventions are required to reconstruct the social belief system and eliminate the stigma associated with obstetric fistula. A list of social interventions that proactively manage the incidence of fistula and help integrate affected women back into the society sustainably is recommended.

Over the years, efforts to ensure equal participation of girls in school in Nigeria have been met with some setbacks, amidst significant progress in mobilising communities for gender equality and mainstreaming. The purpose of this paper is to explore a number of features associated with sexual maturation that affect girls’ non-enrolment, limited attendance, performance at school and gender inequality in primary and secondary education in Nigeria.

The analytical engagement with the capability approach draws out elements of inequalities and demonstrates that issues of sexual maturation do not just constitute personal health challenge for adolescent girls, but bring up wider issues of socio-cultural, community and institutional deprivation and injustice.

Though laudable initiatives have been in place to improve girls’ participation and attainment in education, there is a dire need for appropriate policy and actions to address the supply and demand barriers to meeting girls’ needs, including making schools more girl-friendly and safe, providing school-based health programmes, sex education and sanitation facilities, train teachers against gender-stereotype, flexible school schedules and enforce re-admission policy. But beyond school policy and environment, there is also the need to respond to opportunity costs of schooling and leverage collective capabilities.

This paper argues that cultural and socioeconomic factors surrounding sexual maturation are implicated in gender differentials in participation and performance of girls and gender inequality in education. It suggests the need for the application of collective capabilities for action towards addressing girls’ sexual maturation issues and education in the society.

Since 1997, the Labour Government sought to respond to the dilemmas and consequences of the earlier New Public Management reforms, according to the two principles of joined‐up government and public service delivery. A key aspect of its reform programme has been the public service agreement (PSA) framework, a target‐based performance regime that acts as a vehicle for the majority of spending and policy decisions across government and on the ground. Analysing its implementation and success, the article suggests that, in theory, the PSA regime provides an important example of steering at a distance as a form of political leadership, wherein the role of the centre is to provide the strategic framework for policy delivery. However, there are several structural constraints that have impeded the effectiveness of the framework, such as the pervading Whitehall departmental culture, and the tensions between top‐down performance management and devolved autonomy on the ground.

Purpose – To explore certain aspects of women's experience of their reproductive lives, in different cultural contexts, especially their views on sexuality and sexual practices. It is based on transnational comparative research, and compares the experiences and meanings about motherhood and mother/daughter relationships, especially referring to sexuality and reproductive health. The two contexts we have chosen for this chapter are drawn from our data on Indonesian and Canadian women. While these women come from culturally diverse situations, we find continuities between their experiences as well as contrasts in the contexts in which they live their reproductive lives.

Methodology – Our study was based on collecting participant driven narratives focused on their experience of their reproductive lives. We interviewed women from three generations in the same families to secure a longitudinal perspective and to examine the relationships between generations in the same family. Our overall purpose was to examine the role of local culture in the social reproduction of women's lives in the family.

Findings – The findings we discuss in this chapter focus on the continuities and contrasts we found in women's experience as lived in very different cultural, religious, and political contexts. Indonesian and Canadian women are struggling to live healthy and meaningful lives in a world that is changing ideologically, culturally, politically, and economically. We identify some key problems faced by women, especially as they negotiate the difficult terrain of sexuality, and suggest some points of entry in solving them.

Originality/value – The originality of the article lies in the close examination of in-depth, qualitative data on family relationships, especially in contrasting cultural situations. We also think that our approach, which focuses on generations of women in the same families, provides us with a unique perspective on how relationships and especially women's experience of their reproductive and sexual lives are closely related to the way in which culture is mediated in families.

The Virginia Tech Library System is an integrated library system supporting cataloging, authority control, serials control, circulation, reserve room, acquisitions, document delivery, online public‐access catalog, keyword searching with Boolean operators, and statistics reporting. It runs on the Hewlett‐Packard HP/3000 line of computers. Initially installed in 1975, there are currently 104 users. Sidebars discuss: The Vanilla Network; LINNEA—the library information network for Finnish academic libraries; and the statewide information and referral service at Cabell County Public Library (West Virginia).