Childhood Developmental Risk for Teen Childbearing in Britain

Adolescence is often assumed to be the most important period of life for understanding teen childbearing risk. Developmental perspectives challenge that assumption, offering the possibility that early childhood characteristics may have unique and lasting effects on the risk for teen childbearing. This study examined family life risk factors (socioeconomic status, family stress, and parental involvement in education) and how their effects on teen childbearing risk varied, depending on the childhood age at which they were experienced. Prospective life history data from the National Child Development Study of Great Britain were used to study a birth cohort of 4,928 British women, 15.3% of who became pregnant as teens. This study demonstrated that data from early childhood significantly contribute to the understanding of teen childbearing risk.     

College Students' Positivity Toward Teen Mothers

Although teen pregnancy and parenthood are more visible in society than in the past, teen mothers are often stereotyped and stigmatized. The study examined positivity toward teen mothers among college students (N = 316) at a midwestern university. Although students responded positively to some items regarding teen mothers, other statements showed endorsements of stereotypes. Positivity toward teen mothers was positively related to empathy and classification (freshman, sophomore, etc.). Those who did not report having a teen mother in their family had higher levels of positivity than those who reported having a teen mother in their family. Research should examine perceptions of teen mothers among social workers and interventionists as a moderator of intervention effectiveness.     

Families in the Life Course: Interdependency of Roles,Role Configurations,and Pathways

Families are central in the unfolding life course. They have both internal and external dynamics that reflect and characterize the modern life span, and a life course perspective has particular utility for understanding the role and implications of families for individuals and society. The purpose of this paper is 3‐fold. First, we offer a family life course perspective that delineates core concepts of roles, role configurations, and pathways, specifies the links between them, and highlights the importance of linked lives and structural context. Second, we elaborate a latent class approach for modeling the multilayered dynamic interdependencies that characterize modern family life. Third, we provide an empirical example by considering the timing of childbearing, teen parenthood, and its place in the transition to adulthood using women's data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (N= 2,191). We conclude by discussing further avenues of family research that are enhanced with a life course approach and complementary latent structure methodology.     

The Probability of Teenage Parenthood: Parental Predictions and Their Accuracy

Teenage parenthood is an often-discussed topic in family economics since it has been shown to affect many outcomes for the teen, child, and household. Using a nationally representative longitudinal panel of American teenagers and their parents, two questions related to the probability of teenage parenthood are examined. First, how do predictions of this occurrence made by the teenager’s parents vary across the population? Second, how does the accuracy of these predictions vary? The actual prevalence and variance of teenage parenthood are also examined, and the determinants of its occurrence are estimated. Among other results, expectations and their accuracy are found to differ substantially across socioeconomic status and some demographics such as race and religion. The average American parent underestimates the probability their child will become a teen parent by only a small amount, but within certain demographic groups this outcome is considerably underestimated, and in others it is overestimated. These differences help explain the variability in teen parenthood effects, and more broadly, the analysis serves as a test of parents’ ability to judge their childrens’ future outcomes.     

Suicide ideation,anxiety, and depression: Are children a protective factor for male Veterans?

ABSTRACT

Numerous mental health disorders plague our veterans when they return from deployment including anxiety and depressive disorders, which have been linked to elevated suicide risk when left untreated. Family factors, such as parenthood status, may serve as a protective factor against these mental health issues. This study examined the role of parenthood status of male veterans (N = 234) based on age of the child in order to determine whether a child’s age (minor children v. adult children) affects the likelihood of meeting diagnosis criteria for anxiety, depression, and suicide ideation after controlling for marital status. Three hierarchical binary logistic regression models were constructed to assess the predictive influence of children 18 years old and younger, children older than 18, and no children with the results indicating that parenthood status did meaningfully enhance the prediction of suicide ideation. Complete findings, clinical implications, and future considerations are discussed.     

After the Adolescent Pregnancy: Parents, Teens, and Families

This article introduces a framework for understanding adolescent conditions and decisions during and after pregnancy. The framework provides a structure for a systematic examination of literatures within five dimensions: pregnancy, abortion, childbearing, adoption, and teen parenthood. The article presents a review of these five conditions or decisions organized around 22 empirically based practice guidelines. Themes across the practices emphasize individualized approaches, future orientation, and family system support.     

The impact of youth characteristics and experiences on transitions out of poverty

Although the causes of intergenerational transitions from poverty have attracted the attention of economists and sociologists in recent years, there have been few attempts to integrate ideas from both disciplines. Using a sample of young adults who were impoverished as youth, this study explores the effects of a number of background characteristics such as early welfare dependency, substance abuse, teen parenthood and parent's educational attainment on the family income levels of young adults. It finds that many of these background variables have significant indirect influences on family income through intervening variables, especially the respondent's own educational attainment, welfare dependency, and work experiences.     

Developmental,Familial, and Peer Deterrents to Adoption Placement

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the developmental, familial and peer deterrents that form barriers to adoption placement among teen mothers in a residential facility. An Eriksonian developmental model is used to explore developmental issues of identity, projective identification, and industry among teens. The findings suggest that family “cutoffs” and “re-admissions” also serve as deterrents to adoption placement. Additionally, peer pressure from residents of the facility form barriers to adoption placement. Teen mothers express how they were deterred from adoption placement and constrained into child-rearing as pregnancy resolution strategies. This qualitative study gives family therapy interventions as suggestions to facilitate adoption placement through addressing the constraints teen mothers face.     

Employment Among Current and Former Welfare Recipients: A Literature Review

ABSTRACT

The primary goal of welfare reform is to move recipients from welfare to work. Several factors influence the employment of welfare recipients. The purpose of this content analysis is to offer a comprehensive understanding of employment characteristics and important personal, family, and employment characteristics that either promote or deter employment among current and former welfare recipients. Social workers need a comprehensive understanding of these factors in order to design policy and social work interventions. This article is a content analysis of the results of empirical research studies. Implications and recommendations are offered based on the review of empirical research on current and former welfare recipients.     

Factors driving Salvadoran youth migration: A formative assessment focused on Salvadoran repatriation facilities

BackgroundBeginning in early 2014, the United States' southern border was flooded with an unprecedented number of Central American migrant youth attempting to enter the United States. In response to the influx of immigrants, the Obama administration requested $3.7 billion in emergency funding to be allocated to border security, detention, removal, immigration courts, and care for children. We conducted this research with the aims of identifying and understanding push factors for Salvadoran youth migration and of raising awareness of the need for services among recently deported youths.MethodsData for this mixed-methods study are drawn from field research conducted in El Salvador between 2014 and 2015. We conducted direct observation and 14 in-depth semi-structured interviews with case workers. We analyzed quantitative data from the Salvadoran respondents to the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) and data from the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (DGME).ResultsIn the context of an intergenerational culture of migration, case workers describe how family reunification, security, coyote payment, and socioeconomic factors contribute as push factors for Salvadoran youth migration. Quantitative data illustrate a spike in youth repatriated by land in July 2014, and family reunification, insecurity, and economic factors were primary push factors reported for youths repatriated to El Salvador via land.ConclusionsThis assessment of Salvadoran youth migration push factors relied on interview data provided by case workers who have processed the multiple complex stories of youths at risk for migration. Quantitative data triangulated findings that show how family reunification, violence, and socioeconomic factors act within an intergenerational culture of migration to push Salvadoran youths into a dangerous migration attempt. Our findings can be used to inform the development of strategies to provide services to Salvadoran youths at risk for future migration and to generate mechanisms for providing those services.     

Academic and Behavioral Outcomes Among the Children of Young Mothers

In this article, we use newly available data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to investigate the effects of early motherhood on academic and behavioral outcomes for children born to early child bearers. We find that early motherhood's strong negative correlation with children's test scores and positive correlation with children's grade repetition is almost entirely explained by prebirth individual and family background factors of teen mothers themselves. However, early childbearing is associated indirectly with reduced children's test scores through its linkage to family size (and thus to child birth order). We find a different pattern in predicting fighting, truancy, early sexual activity, and other problem behaviors among adolescent and young adult offspring. For these behaviors, maternal age at first birth remains an important risk factor even after controlling for a wide range of background factors and maternal characteristics. These results highlight the diverse pathways through which teen parenting might influence subsequent child well‐being and social performance.     

Parenting challenges and parents’ intimate relationships

ABSTRACT

Parenthood is a rewarding as well as a potentially stressful event for many couples as it brings many changes to their lives. Having young children at home can result in decreased relationship satisfaction and a low-quality sexual relationship. Same-sex couples may, however, report different parenting experiences, and their parenthood may not significantly affect their level of relationship satisfaction. The quality of marital relationship is an important determinant of the parenting stress and the quality of the parent-child relationship. Mothers and fathers who report dissatisfaction with their marriage and relationship experience more parenting difficulties and stress than those who are satisfied with their relationships. Although research into transition to parenthood is very significant, the association between parenting challenges and parents’ intimate relationships remains an understudied topic. Research needs not only to highlight the importance of parents and family well-being and its direct impacts on the child’s well-being, but also to emphasize the bidirectional association between parent-child interactions and couples’ intimate relationship satisfaction.     

An Ecological Framework for Contextual Risk Factors in Elder Abuse by Adult Children

ABSTRACT

Future trends suggest both a continued growth of the elderly population, as well as the likelihood of increased demand for family caregiving which may, in turn, be associated with increasing rates of elder abuse. It is important to consider issues related to such caregiving, including potential abuse from an ecological perspective which, in turn, provides a fruitful basis for framing the problem of abuse as a set of contextually-based risk factors. This paper focuses on the contextual risk factors using an applied ecological model, a useful framework for understanding the intergenerational character of elder abuse in families, for developing recommendations for empirically-based action research, and for the development of community-based prevention and intervention strategies.     

A gender story of institutional disengagement of young adults in Latin America

Latin America is home to many young adults who are neither engaged in formal education nor work, controversially dubbed as “nini” (“ni” trabajan “ni” estudian, denoting neither working nor studying). At the same time, early union formation and parenthood are pervasive in the region. Theories pertaining to the linkage between parenthood and female labor force participation are heavily based on evidence found in the Global North, with limited research on the topic in settings with less stable family structures, such as Latin American countries. This study tests the role household structure and family formation play on institutional disengagement of young adults in 12 Latin American countries. We explore the gender dynamic of human capital stagnation by focusing on early parenthood and conjugal partnership for women and men aged 20–25. We use censuses from the Integrated Public-Use Microdata Series and country-specific linear regression models. Our results reveal that the intersection of class and gender is a major determinant of institutional disengagement in the region. Women from lower social origins who leave parental home to enter conjugal union and parenthood at younger ages are particularly at risk. This study highlights the urgency of contextualizing the interplay between work and family within the framework of regional family norms, prompting further dialogues concerning the social implications of perceived inactivity.     

Research on Gay and Lesbian Parenting

SUMMARY

Gay and lesbian parenting is a fertile research field with many important new developments in content and methodology over the last decade. Gay and lesbian parenting occurs in a wide diversity of famly constellations, yet the cultural context of lesbian and gay parenting is a neglected topic. The relative depth of knowledge of lesbian parenting is contrasted with the lack of research on gay male parenting across different routes to parenthood. Gay and lesbian parenting researchers have employed a wide variety of methodological designs in their investigations, and the field has benefited from the employment of quantitative and qualitative techniques to investigate developmental outcomes for children and increase understanding of the variety of experiences of gay and lesbian parenthood. This review highlights significant developments in the field and suggests new directions.     

“I'll Be There for You”: Teen Parents' Coparenting Relationships

Marriage promotion policy agendas have focused research attention on coparenting relationships, but little is known about coparenting among teen parents. Using qualitative interviews with 76 teen mothers and fathers supplemented with site observations at a school and clinic, the authors investigated coparenting relationships and those relationships' embeddedness in extended families and social institutions. They identified prevalent coparenting trajectories and analyzed individual‐, interaction‐, and institutional‐level influences on coparenting. Coparenting trajectories diverged depending on whether the couple stayed together and assumed traditionally gendered parenting roles. Participants perceived that coparenting relationships strongly shaped their current and future socioeconomic, emotional, and practical circumstances and their success at “being there” for their child. Extended families, institutions, and social programs often pushed teen parents apart, although many participants felt they needed a functional relationship with the other parent. Coparenting relationships, considered jointly with extended families and social institutions, are fundamental for understanding teen parenthood and shaping effective social policies.     

Sexual health programming for vulnerable youth: Improving knowledge,attitudes, and behaviors

PurposeAmong girls in foster care, 48% become pregnant at least once by age 19 (Dworsky & Courtney, 2010). Youth in or at-risk for foster care (YFC) report limited knowledge about, access to, and use of condoms; ambivalent attitudes towards teen parenting; and participation in other risky behaviors. For the current study, we adapted and supplemented an evidence-based sexual health program called SiHLE, using a systematic adaptation framework (ADAPT-ITT, Wingood & DiClemete, 2008), to address the unique and targeted needs of youth living in a temporary shelter due to lack of housing. Youth in this study were either in foster care and awaiting placement, or having serious family problems and were at-risk of entering the foster care system.MethodsThirty-six youth participated in SiHLE-YFC during their stay at a temporary shelter. Four 90-minute sessions focused on increasing sexual health knowledge, improving attitudes towards and self-efficacy of condom use, and developing core skills such as problem-solving and communication.ResultsAs hypothesized, youth showed high satisfaction with the intervention and significant improvement in sexual health knowledge from pre to post. At one-month follow-up, youth continued to show significant improvement in sexual health knowledge, along with a significant reduction in risky sexual behaviors. Though not significant, there were moderate effect sizes for changes in attitudes towards teen pregnancy and condoms. There were no changes in attitudes towards teen parenting.ConclusionTaken together, findings suggest that sexual health education directly targeting the unique needs of YFC may improve sexual health knowledge and behavior, and are discussed in the context of challenges associated with intervention and research with this population.     

Qualitative evaluation of historical and relational factors influencing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection risks in foster youth

PurposeTo explore how attitudes, norms, behaviors, responses to early life experiences, and protective factors influence pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection risks from the perspectives of current and former foster youth to inform the development of prevention strategies.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured individual qualitative interviews with a diverse sample of 22 current/former foster youth aged 15–21 years (63% female; average age = 18.6 years). We then used Theoretical Thematic Analysis to systematically analyze the data for key themes related to sexual health in four categories: 1) norms and attitudes, 2) responses to early life experiences, 3) protective factors, and 4) youth-driven intervention ideas.ResultsParticipants reported a range of sexual experience levels, varied sexual orientations, and also reported varied life experiences prior to and during foster care. We detected several norms and attitudes that likely contribute to risks of early pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. These included that one can tell by looking whether a partner is trustworthy or has a sexually transmitted infection, that condoms aren't necessary with long-term or infrequent partners or if birth control is used, and that teen pregnancy is an inevitable event. With respect to responses to early life experiences, youth frequently described difficulties dealing with strong emotions in the context of romantic and/or sexual relationships; many attributed these difficulties to early experiences with biological family members or in foster care. Participants linked emotion regulation difficulties with struggles in trust appraisal, effective communication, and impulsive behaviors. Youth also described a variety of protective factors that they felt helped them prevent sexual risk behaviors or improved their lives in other respects. Finally, participants endorsed factors likely to improve intervention acceptability and efficacy, including an open, non-judgmental group-based environment, involvement of peer mentors, and inclusion of caregiver and caseworker training components.ConclusionsTrauma-informed, tailored intervention strategies which address key norms and attitudes and provide broad-based assertiveness and emotion regulation skills are likely to be the most effective strategies to reduce risks of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among teens in foster care. Group-based interventions that involve peer mentors and caregiver and caseworker components may be especially acceptable and effective for teens in foster and/or kinship care.