‘Walkin’ about at night’: the background to teenage pregnancy in a remote Aboriginal community
‘Walkin’ about at night’: the background to teenage pregnancy in a remote Aboriginal community Journal Article
Journal of Youth Studies
Abstract: In Australia, Indigenous young women are more likely to become pregnant while in their teens than non-Indigenous young women. Factors such as poverty, educational outcomes and unemployment play a major role; however, there is little understanding of the attitudes of young women themselves with regards to pregnancy. This paper explores young women's decisions regarding their sexual relationships and pregnancy in a remote Australian Aboriginal community, called River Town. It focuses on young women's motivations to pursue sexual relationships and the information about sex and male behaviour to women that informs their decision-making. ?Walkin? about at night? is the term that River Town residents use to describe the nocturnal activities of adolescent females. The focus of this activity is for a young woman to find and maintain a relationship with a boy. Although it is considered by the young women to be one of the most exciting parts of their lives, it carries with it the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. Young women are very aware of the first of these risks, if not the second, as teenage pregnancy is the norm in the community.