Adolescent girls’ resilience to teenage pregnancy and motherhood in Begoro, Ghana: the effect of financial support

Adolescent childbearing in contemporary times are determinants of their outcome in the future. This paper draws on Bourdieu’s concept of capitals, specifically economic capital to examine how adolescent girls avoid and/or adjust to the challenges they are predisposed to in their sexual and reproductive experiences. Data were collected from a survey of 500 older adolescent girls. These were supported with data gathered from 20 in-depth interviews from the same pool of respondents. The study found that access to financial resources for non-pregnant girls were not directly to help them avoid risky sexual behaviour, but it served that purpose to some extent. For the ever-pregnant girls, financial support helped them to cope with teenage pregnancy and motherhood. Parents stood out as a significant source of economic support for girls. Therefore, parents should be economically empowered to provide the needed support for girls to develop resilience to teenage pregnancy and motherhood.