Antecedents of Pregnancy Among Unmarried Adolescents (From Teenage Pregnancy, P 49-65, 1987, Mary C. McClellan, ed. -- See NCJ-117071)

• NCJ Number: 117075
• Author(s): C Robbins; H B Kaplan; S S Martin
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): DA 02497
• Sponsoring Agency: Hogg Foundation; National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Sale Source: Phi Delta Kappa
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from the Journal of Marriage and the Family, volume 474, number 3, August 1985.

Annotation

Using data from 2,158 young adults who were first surveyed as seventh-grade students in Houston, Tex., in 1971, this study tested multivariate causal models predicting out-of-wedlock adolescent pregnancy.

Abstract

Among the males, having a girlfriend become pregnant was associated with school difficulties, low parental socioeconomic status, and high popularity. Among females, pregnancy risk was related to race, low socioeconomic status, absent father, number of siblings, school difficulties, family stress, and popularity. Contrary to much previous research, there was only weak age-specific and sex-specific effects for self-esteem and feelings of powerlessness. In fact, interaction tests indicate that under certain circumstances, youths with high self-esteem and perceived efficacy were at increased risk for premarital pregnancy. These results are discussed in the context of sex differences in risk factors, the failure to support the culture-of-poverty hypotheses, the importance of school experiences, and the possibility of differing psychosocial risk factors in early, compared with late, adolescence. 5 tables, 2 figures, 5 footnotes, 46 references. (Author abstract modified)