Paper Title
The Impact of Communal Childrearing on The Prevalence of Teenage Pregnancy in Vhembe District

Abstract
This study demonstrate the impacts of communal childrearing on the prevalence of teenage pregnancy in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to conduct the study. A stratified random sampling technique was used to sample participants for a close-ended questionnaire and 400 participant�s mainly teenage girls participated. For qualitative, purposive and snowball sampling technique were used to sample participants for key informant and structured interviews. The participants were high school staffs, community leaders, pregnant/ teenage mothers and parents. Quantitative data were analyzed with the use of statistical package for social science programme. For qualitative data, content analysis was used and responses were grouped with themes. Findings indicate majority of the pregnant/ teenage mothers were raised by grandmothers; most teenagers were raised in biological and grandparents homes. Majority of the teenagers were not raised, they just grew up. Teenagers do not get sexual education from parents because it is a cultural taboo. Teenage mothers were govern by a sexual belief of unprotected sex. There was peer/ parental pressure on teenagers to fall pregnant for benefits. Most teenagers had mothers who themselves were teenage mothers. The study concludes that, childrearing/ parenthood in Vhembe District is not taken seriously, which leads teenage girls in falling prey to pregnancies; the direct link between poverty and culture increases the chances of the teenage pregnancies. Keywords- Teenage pregnancy, Communal childrearing, Cultural taboos, Sexual beliefs