CHAPTER ONE
1.0    Introduction Early pregnancy is a situation whereby a girl-child is impregnated as a result of premarital sexual activity. Many girls these days are in the habit of being involved in premarital sexual acts due to civilization and education. There is no doubt that the traditional values have been overthrown in favour of liberal sexual attitude. According to Abe (1996), 63% of adolescents do not think that virginity was important, but old-fashioned recreational sex seems to be the way of many youths and the resultant effect of early pregnancy, abortion and consequently death or destruction of the reproductive organs. Nwobi (1997) describes the family as the network of persons intimately held together by a bond of social or blood relationship. The family comprises the father as head and breadwinner, the children who must take orders or directions from the father. Therefore, for the father to raise meaningful and responsible children in the society the needs to adopt a certain style of leadership or parenting.
1.1       Theoretical Background Arione, (1994) used two typologies to describe fathering styles: demandingness and responsiveness; that when crossed yields four fathering styles. According to Arione, authoritative fathers are both responsive and demanding. They set clear reasonable standards for responsible behaviour that are consistent with children’s development and provide explanation for their positions. They are also kind, warm, loving and responsive to children’s needs and will negotiate their expectations. Authoritarian fathers are only demanding but not responsive. They only place values on obedience to rules and discourage give-and-take between father and child and do not take their children’s needs into consideration. Permissive fathers are also indulging, they are responsive but not demanding. These fathers are warm, accepting and tolerant of the child’s impulses. They also make few demands on the child for mature behaviour, but do not use much or no punishment and avoid exerting their authorities. More recently, permissive fathers have been separated from neglecting-rejecting ones, who also do not make many demands because they are  disengaged and they are neither demanding nor responsive. Thus this has caused the girl child who could not get what she wants from her father to use what she has to get what she wants outside the home. The resultant effect has been early sexual activity which is the result of early pregnancy of the child. Sexual indiscipline among adolescents in secondary schools includes increasing rates of premarital sex, promiscuity, prostitution, teenage pregnancy, teenage marriage and motherhood, illegal abortions, child abuse and abandonment and premature death for teenage mothers as a result of abortion. The Newswatch (1985),main feature was the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy captioned “Children Having Children”. The situation has assumed a greater dimension because sexual indiscipline is closely related to criminal acts – such as abortion and child abuse. Teenage pregnancy sometimes leads to teenage marriage or what is usually called the “Shot gun marriage”. This option is often frought with both medical, social and psychological dangers and problems. For one thing,  a girl’s body is still growing and if nutrition is deficient such teenage girl is a poor obstetric risk. For another there are psychological problems associated with teenage marriage such as “Shot gun” marriage, leading t dropping out of school, humiliation and degradation suffered by the adolescents and their families. There are the financial implications and lack of psychological support system for the adolescent mother. The attendant dropping out of school for the girl usually forces into poverty cycle, while high increasing rate of illegitimate pregnancy exacts a heavy financial toll on tax payers. Finally, single parenthood seems to be increasing among adolescents as a result of early pregnancy due to premarital sexual activity with/its implication for the proper psychological well being of the child and the mother, and on the long run, with social implications for the society (Kuforiji, 1998). It is a well known fact that more teenagers are engaged in sexual intercourse at earlier ages. Rafiu (1994) found that in a sample of 100 students in secondary schools 48% boys and 36% girls stated that they had sexual intercourse by age 15.