Socioeconomic inequalities in teenage motherhood in ecuador

Resumen

This PhD dissertation analyses the socioeconomic inequalities in teenage motherhood considering its influencing factors and social determinants. This doctoral thesis is structured by four research papers. In paper I, we analysed how factors related to the first heterosexual experience and sexual education are associated with socioeconomic inequalities in teenage motherhood. We observed that the most important factors influencing the relationship between higher socioeconomic status and teenage motherhood were those related to the first experience of heterosexual intercourse. Paper II analysed the trends in socioeconomic inequalities in teenage motherhood and the factors related to the first heterosexual intercourse. This study revealed that - in the past 14 years - there have been no changes in the disadvantageous socioeconomic conditions of teenage mothers and in the adverse characteristics of the first experience of heterosexual intercourse in Ecuador. Paper III described the construction of a deprivation index for the study of geographical inequalities in health in Ecuador. This ecological study showed a geographical pattern in which cantons inhabited by historically oppressed ethnic groups have the highest deprivation scores. Paper IV analysed geographical and social inequalities in adolescent birth rates (ABR) in Ecuador. This study showed a geographical pattern of high ABR in cantons from the Coastal and Amazonic region. Furthermore, a strong association was observed between high ABR and cantons with high deprivation, ethnic historical oppression and gender inequality.