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Facts in Brief
A sexually active teenager who doesn't use contraception has a 90% chance
of pregnancy within one year.
Each year, almost one million teenage women-11% of all women aged 15-19
and 20% of those who have had sexual intercourse-become pregnant.
Among sexually experienced teens, about 8% of 14-year-olds, 18% of 15-17-year-olds
and 22% of 18-19-year-olds become pregnant each year.
13% of all U.S. births are to teens.
More than half (55%) of the 939,000 teenage pregnancies in 1994 ended
in births (2/3 of which were unplanned); 14% were miscarriages and 31%
were abortions.
76% of births to teens occur outside of marriage.
1 in 4 teenage mothers have a second child within 2 years of their first.
7 in 10 teen mothers complete high school, but they are less likely
than women who delay childbearing to go on to college.
In part because most teen mothers come from disadvantaged backgrounds,
28% of them are poor in their 20s and early 30s; only 7% of women who first
give birth after adolescence are poor at those ages.
1/3 of pregnant teens receive inadequate prenatal care; babies born
to young mothers are more likely to have a low birth weight, to have childhood
health problems and to be hospitalized than are those born to older mothers.
(The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1998, Sex and America's Teenagers.)
Internet sites for further information on child rearing topics:
There is wide variety of dependable information on many topics from
breast feeding, to trouble with toddlers, and potty training. Parents can
ask questions and see the answers to commonly asked questions from other
parents. There is even a chart about how your fetus is developing each
month. Chat rooms are available and much, much more.
www.babycenter.com
www.parenting-qa.com
www.parentsplace.com
Internet sites for support groups for adolescent mothers:
www.enconnect.net/ujw/1996/yousa/2p3.htm
www.whyy.org/edison/10grade/teenpregnancy.html
This study was used to determine the effect of case management, by public
health nurses, on self-esteem, parenting competence, and social support
of teenage mothers. A sample of only 56 first-time teen mothers from a
health department was a convenience sample, not randomly drawn. To add
to this limitation, researchers were not able to control how the data were
collected on what was said during collection time. Implications that were
indicated were those of more accurate and complete charting by the nurses,
which would help to demonstrate changes in clients' lives. Also, teens
need help from nurses with their health concerns, and information and referrals
to social agencies to help prevent repeated pregnancies and increase educational
attainment.
Herrmann, M. M., Van Cleve, L., Levisen, L. (1998). Parenting competence,
social support, and self-esteem in teen mothers case managed by public
health nurses. Public Heath Nursing, 15:6, p. 432-439.
This long-term evaluation studied the effects of the Teenage Mothers-Grandmothers
Program on outcomes for the teens. An important finding was that teens
whose mothers participated in the program were significantly less likely
to drop out of school and had significantly better self-esteem. The study
concluded that including mothers of pregnant and parenting adolescents
in programs can be beneficial.
Roye, C. F., Balk, S.J. (1996). Evaluation of an intergenerational program
for pregnant and parenting adolescents. Maternal-Child Nursing Journal,
24:1, p. 32-40.
This study examined the influence of social support and knowledge of
infant development on maternal confidence in performing infant care among
adolescents and adults. Limitations of the study consisted of nonrandomized
sampling and a homogenous sample of primarily urban, poor, minority participants.
Also, bias exists through the use of only survey-type questionnaires for
data collection. Findings from the study show that an adolescent's knowledge
of infant development significantly affects her confidence in providing
infant care.
Ruchala, P. L., James, D. C. (1997). Social support, knowledge of infant
development, and maternal confidence among adolescent and adult mothers.
Journal of Obstetric and Gynecological Neonatal Nursing, 26:6, p. 685-689. |
