Psychosocial Outcomes of Urban African American Adolescents Born to Teenage Mothers

Authors: Zimmerman M.A.¹; Tuttle L.²; Kieffer E.²; Parker E.²; Caldwell C.H.²; Maton K.I.³

Source: American Journal of Community Psychology, Volume 29, Number 5, October 2001 , pp. 799-805(7)

Publisher: Springer

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $47.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

This is a study of psychosocial outcomes of adolescents born to teenage mothers. Adolescents' problem behaviors, psychological well-being, social support, school variables, and sexual behaviors are compared across three groups—those born to mothers 17 or younger, mothers 18–19 years old, and mothers 20 or older. Analyses from two samples of African American adolescents from Maryland (n = 205) and Michigan (n = 570) are reported. The results from both samples indicate that mother's age at birth is unrelated to adolescents' psychosocial outcomes. These two studies add to the limited number of analyses that examine adolescent outcomes for children of teen mothers. The results suggest that efforts to understand social structural determinants of healthy and problematic adolescent development may be more informative than examining the effects of mother's age. They also suggest that teen pregnancy prevention programs may be more effective if they are part of a larger prevention strategy that incorporates social structural change efforts and not only a focus on individual level change.

Keywords: maternal age; African American; psychosocial outcomes; adolescents

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; marcz@umich.edu 2: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 3: University of Maryland/Baltimore County

Publication date: 2001-10-01