Review articlesAdolescent mothers: Support needs, resources, and support-education interventions
Section snippets
Conceptual foundation
Social support is defined as interactions with family members, friends, peers, and health professionals that communicate information, esteem, aid, and understanding [20]. Social support may comprise multiple types (e.g., affirmation, informational, emotional, and instrumental), sources (e.g., professionals, peers, family, partner), modes (e.g., one-on-one, group), frequencies (e.g., weekly or daily contacts), and durations (e.g., weeks or months) [21]. For example, assistance with childcare
Support needs of adolescent parents and their children
The review of the research revealed that adolescent mothers and their children frequently suffer from psychological, social, and economic difficulties 30, 31, 32, 33, 34. Adolescent mothers are less likely than older mothers to complete high school, attend college, find stable employment, marry, or be self-supporting 16, 35, 36, 37, 38. The problems faced by adolescent mothers and their children include poverty, residential instability, living in crime-ridden and violent communities, and less
Support resources
Although most adolescent parents receive support (e.g., parenting advice) from professionals and/or informal network members, most indicate that they have additional needs for support resources [64]. The following review of descriptive and correlational studies focuses on the relationships among support resources, adolescent parenthood, and children’s development. The data reveal that typical sources of support for adolescents are primarily informal support network members (such as families,
Support-education interventions
There is agreement that adolescent parents and their children need social support and education 45, 89, 90, 91. As described above, adolescent parents and their children tend to benefit from family support, partner support, and multiple sources of support, including professionally based social support. As well, adolescent mothers’ perceptions of the quality of their support sources play a role in determining the effectiveness of available support on outcomes. In North America, many intervention
Limitations of support-education intervention studies and directions for future research
The findings of the review of support-education intervention studies revealed several limitations that impact the utility of study findings and provide direction for future research. A review of these limitations is not intended to reduce the value of the knowledge provided by the findings just presented, but rather to guide future research on support-education interventions for adolescent mothers. However, these limitations reduce the clarity of the explanatory theories underlying some social
Concluding comments
Limitations in study design present practical and theoretical challenges that are difficult to surmount. Nonetheless, adolescent parents clearly need support to overcome problems in maternal mental health, quality interactions with their children, their children’s health and development, and their future lives. Correlational data revealed that typical sources of support for adolescents are families, partners, and friends, and to a lesser extent, professionals. No research was identified that
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