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Motherhood during the teen years: Adevelopmental perspective on risk factors for childbearing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 1999

SHARI MILLER–JOHNSON
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
DONNA–MARIE WINN
Affiliation:
Duke University
JOHN COIE
Affiliation:
Duke University
ANNE MAUMARY–GREMAUD
Affiliation:
Duke University
CLAIRE HYMAN
Affiliation:
Duke University
ROBERT TERRY
Affiliation:
University of Oklahoma
JOHN LOCHMAN
Affiliation:
University of Alabama

Abstract

The role of peer relations in childhood and behavioral and family characteristics in early adolescence as risk factors for adolescent childbearing was investigated. Sociometric surveys across third, fourth, and fifth grade and parent and child measures of behavioral and family functioning at sixth and eighth grade were collected in a lower income, urban sample of 308 African American females. Results replicated earlier findings on the role of childhood aggression as a predictor of teen motherhood. In addition, girls who displayed stable patterns of childhood aggression were at significantly higher risk not only to have children as teenagers but to have more children and to have children at younger ages. Results also indicated that females who were depressed in midadolescence were at greater risk to become parents between age 15 and 19 years. These findings demonstrate the need to take a differentiated approach to understanding teen childbearing and varying developmental pathways in the prediction of teen motherhood.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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