INFLUENCE OF PERCEIVED EXPRESSED EMOTION AND AGE ON PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG PREGNANT AND NON-PREGNANT ADOLESCENTS.

Abstract

  Adolescent pregnancy is a global problem confronting all the countries of the world and it may be harmful to the psychological health of the adolescent mothers. The study examined the influence of perceived expressed emotion and age on psychological distress among pregnant and non-pregnant adolescents. Five hundred and fifty two (552) pregnant and non-pregnant adolescents from Ogun State participated in the research. Perceived Expressed Emotion scale (PEES) and Kessler Psychological Distress scale (K10) were used to collect the data. Three hypotheses were tested with inferential and descriptive statistics. The result found that perceived expressed emotion influenced psychological distress adolescents (R=0.47, R2=.22, P<.05), pregnant adolescents reported high psychological distress than adolescents who were not pregnant (t-552)=6.40; F=2.15; P<.05), there was no differences in age categories of pregnant adolescents psychological distress. The study recommends that young girls should be well educated on sex education and the consequences of unintended and unwanted pregnancy during adolescence. Also awareness of perceived expressed emotion is important so that parents and family members will consolidate effort that will be geared toward giving adequate support to the pregnant adolescent, so they can still give birth to the child and still find a meaningful future for themselves.  Keywords: Adolescents, Age, Perceived Expressed Emotions, Psychological Distress.