A so-called study conducted by the University of Cape Coast (UCC) claims that it has found thre is a link between
cohabitation by university students, and teenage pregnancy.
Cohabitation is the situation where a male, normally an adult, shares a room or premises with an adult female when
they are not marriage. The study said that there is a high and growing incidence of cohabitation among university
students living in private hostels.
Cohabitation is to live together and have a sexual relationship without being married.
The situation is attributed to the extreme freedom in the private hostels enjoyed by the students, unlike the
traditional university halls where some control mechanisms have been instituted.
In a few cases, the students put their resources together to rent the space for economic reasons.
While majority of students thought cohabitation was bad, a few perceived it as good, fun and normal.
The study, which was also conducted in some adjoining communities found that the practice was contributing highly
to teenage pregnancy and child marriage.
Professor Georgina Yaa Oduro, the Head of Sociology and Anthropology Department, UCC, shared the findings at a
workshop on ending child marriage and Gender Based Violence for some traditional council registrars from eight
regional houses of chiefs and the National House of Chiefs.
The Daily Searchlight is of the firm opinion that this so-called study cannot be credible, its findings based more on
the biases of the author as against scientific research, and should be dismissed.
First, if the study was about university students in Ghana, virtually all of them are above nineteen and cannot be
described as teenagers.
Secondly, if the study concentrated on university students, and it was true that cohabitation was leading to unwanted
pregnancy, the incidence would have been become more observant on university campuses, and not on communities
adjourning the universities.
We believe that scientists like the promoters of this study have a duty not only to their own ethics and integrity, but
to our society to come out with results that are backed by facts, and not spurious results that in the long run, would
be of no benefit to the society.
(Editorial of the Daily Searchlight of 4 th September, 2024).
