Teenage childbearing: an adaptive strategy for the socioeconomically disadvantaged or a strategy for adapting to socioeconomic disadvantage?

Article Abstract:

Research investigating the relationship between teen pregnancy and poverty must consider young women's decisions about contraceptive use and pregnancy. Teen mothers are less likely to complete high school and are more likely to become underemployed, undereducated adults than teens who delay childbearing. Family background and cultural factors partially explain the relationship between teenage parenthood and academic and work-related underachievement. Proof of a causal relationship between teenage childbearing and poverty requires additional research that distinguishes young women who are willing to become teen mothers from those who do not want to assume this role. The personality differences that shape teens' decisions about the negative and positive aspects of birth control and parenthood may be related to factors that influence their future academic and work-related success.

Beliefs, opinions and attitudes, Teenage girls

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Gravid students: characteristics of nongravid classmates who react with positive and negative feelings about conception

Article Abstract:

Exposure of non-pregnant high school students to pregnant students may not increase their desire to conceive and bear a child themselves. A study of 130 high school students who had never been pregnant found that, for 89%, their desire for having a child either decreased or stayed the same after being in contact with a pregnant classmate. Only 11% of never-pregnant students experienced a greater desire to have a child. These students had other risk factors for teen pregnancy, such as failing in school, low educational and career goals, and lack of family support. The increasing numbers of pregnant high school students in America may serve to dissuade other students from becoming pregnant themselves.

Pregnant girls, Pregnant teenagers

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Absence of negative attitudes toward childbearing among pregnant teenagers: a risk factor for rapid repeat pregnancy?

Article Abstract:

Social factors and attitudes may play a role in rapid repeat pregnancy among adolescent mothers. Two hundred 13- to 18-year-olds enrolled in a teenaged mothers program responded to a survey. Twelve percent of the group had another pregnancy during the first year after the birth of their child. Adolescents having a repeat pregnancy were more likely to express positive attitudes toward pregnancy, be high school dropouts, not plan Norplant use, use drugs, leave home, and report inadequate family support. This demonstrates that more is needed for pregnancy prevention than information about and access to contraception.

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