Journal article
When do adolescent mothers return to school? Timing across rural and urban South Africa
South African medical journal, v 110(9), pp 850-854
01 Sep 2020
PMID: 32880266
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
While adolescent mothers' postpartum return to school offers long-term benefits, returning too early in the absence of sufficient support may impede the healthy development of their children. This study assessed the rates of adolescent mothers' return to school in South Africa (SA) and examined how many months after birth school-aged girls resumed schooling. Two independent studies recruited 1 114 adolescent mothers in Eastern Cape Province and Durban, respectively. Across the two studies, 64.7% (n=649) and 47.8% (n=53) of mothers, respectively, had returned to school at the time of the study. Of these mothers, the majority had returned to school within the first 2 months post partum (study 1: 67.6%; n=439; and study 2: 58.5%; n=31), fewer between 2 and 6 months (16.9%; n=110; and 22.6%; n=12), and after 12 months (2.0%; n=13; and unknown). Our findings indicate a mismatch between SA's national policy recommendations and actual return patterns, showing that a large proportion of mothers returned to school much earlier than advised. This study also highlights a particular need to amend school policies that support early-returners and their children. Additional research on the needs of mother-child dyads and studies on the impact of different timescales on educational and health outcomes are needed to further inform policy and practice regarding adolescent mothers' return to school.
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Details
- Title
- When do adolescent mothers return to school? Timing across rural and urban South Africa
- Creators
- J. Jochim - University of OxfordA. K. Groves - Drexel UniversityL. D. Cluver - Univ Oxford, Social Sci Div, Dept Social Policy & Intervent, Oxford, England
- Publication Details
- South African medical journal, v 110(9), pp 850-854
- Publisher
- Sa Medical Assoc
- Number of pages
- 5
- Grant note
- 0005218 / Research England; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Regional Inter-Agency Task Team for Children Affected by AIDS-Eastern and Southern Africa (RIATT-ESA) University of Oxford's Economic and Social Research Council Impact Acceleration Account MR/R022372/1 / Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) through its National Institutes of Health Research (NIHR) 2018/625-TOS; 155-Hod / Collaborative Initiative for Paediatric HIV Education and Research grant from the International AIDS Society John Fell Fund PLP-2014-095 / Leverhulme Trust K43TW011434 / Fogarty International Center, National Institute on Mental Health, National Institutes of Health ES/J500112/1; ES/R501037/1 / Economic and Social Research Council; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) MR/R022372/1 / MRC; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Medical Research Council UK (MRC) 771468 / European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme; European Research Council (ERC) United Nations Children's Fund Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (UNICEF-ESARO) Drexel Career Development award ES/S008101/1 / UK Research and Innovation and Global Challenges Research Fund (UKRI GCRF) Accelerating Achievement for Africa's Adolescents (Accelerate) Hub US Department of State as part of the DREAMS Innovation Challenge Evidence for HIV Prevention in Southern Africa (EHPSA), a UK aid programme Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson Johnson UK Medical Research Council (MRC) under the MRC/DFID Concordat agreement; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Medical Research Council UK (MRC) 1925458 / ESRC; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) UK Department for International Development (DFID) under the MRC/DFID Concordat agreement; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Medical Research Council UK (MRC) CPF/41513 / Nuffield Foundation
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Community Health and Prevention
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000577097500012
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85090260749
- Other Identifier
- 991019168433704721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health