Predicting Adolescent Mothers' Transition to Adulthood

Abstract

This study investigates the relation among prenatal maternal resources (including intellectual ability, cognitive readiness for parenting, personal adjustment and social support), maternal perceptions about parenting and children's temperament when children were 6 months of age, and individual differences in the adaptation of 90 adolescent mothers 3 years after the birth of their first child. It was hypothesized that adolescent mothers¿ pre-existing resources and emerging perceptions about parenting determine not only their children's but also their own later adaptation to critical life events. Maternal resources uniquely predicted later maternal cognitive functioning, personal adjustment, and child abuse potential, whereas maternal perceptions uniquely predicted maternal demographic status 3 years after childbirth. Moreover, maternal perceptions were found to mediate the influence of maternal resources on parent-child interactional styles. The unique roles that maternal resources and perceptions played in determining later maternal functioning are discussed.

Adolescents' Sexual Behavior and Academic Attainment

“…Even in low opportunity settings, educational expectations negatively predict adolescent births among White, Latina and low SES young women (Droscoll, Sugland, Manlove and Papillo 2005). These findings are consistent with the life course perspective on transitioning to parenthood during high school; it is off-time and early (Mylod, Whitman, and Borkowski 1997; Elder and Shanahan 2006) and impedes adult opportunity and economic stability (Hofferth, Reid, and Mott 2001; Hoffman, Foster, and Furstenberg 1993; Nock 1998). Considering timing of first sex, contraceptive use at first sex, and high school parenthood in tandem as important social aspects of aligned ambitions recognizes that each may tap high school students’ ability to plan for the future and consider consequences of sexual behavior for other life domains like academic attainment.…”

“…It reduces their likelihood of earning a diploma and of enrolling in four-year versus no postsecondary programs, other versus no postsecondary programs, and four-year versus other postsecondary programs. In other words, it significantly impedes young women's progress toward every attainment threshold investigated in this study, as suggested by previous research on the nature of the transition to parenthood during high school (Elder and Shanahan 2006;Mylod et al 1997).…”

How Teen Mothers Are Faring Under Welfare Reform

“…Parenting stress may also influence educational attainment. In one study, adolescent mothers who displayed more cognitive readiness for parenting and more positive perceptions about their early parenting situations fared better in terms of educational status and attainment (Mylod, Whitman, & Borkowski, 1997). These young mothers had more accurate ideas of the work involved in caring for a young infant and as a consequence were less stressed than mothers who were surprised by the amount of time and effort required of the parenting role.…”

Parenting Behaviors Among Mainland Puerto Rican Adolescent Mothers: The Role of Grandmother and Partner Involvement

“…Parenting orientation . The Child Centeredness Scale (Mylod, Whitman, & Borkowski, 1997) was used to assess the extent to which respondents believe parenting is an important and central aspect of their lives. Sample items include: “I think that having a baby is one of the main things that make my life a good one”; “I would feel like something is missing in my life if I could not have a baby.” Nine items were rated on a scale ranging from 1 ( strongly agree ) to 5 ( strongly disagree ) and were reversed and averaged to create a total score.…”