The Antecedents of Teenage Fatherhood

Abstract

The High School and Beyond Survey was used to describe young men who are at risk of becoming teenage fathers and examine the causal process leading to early fathering for young men. Bivariate results show that men who are at risk of fathering children at a young age have unique attitudes and family, school, and dating experiences. Multivariate analyses suggest that the most cogent factors affecting teenage fathering include being black, going steady, and having unorthodox views about parenting outside of marriage.

Le regard de jeunes pères sur leur enfance et leur adolescence

“…L'étude de Thornberry, Smith et Howard (1997), confirmée par d'autres (Stouthamer-Loeber et Wei, 1998;Capaldi, Pears, Patterson et Owen, 2003), montre aussi que d'être jeune délinquant augmente la probabilité de devenir père de façon précoce. Un bon nombre des jeunes pères participant à ces recherches étaient des adolescents présentant des problèmes de comportement (Dearden, Hale et Alvarez, 1992;Kiernan, 1992;Hanson, Morrison et Ginsburg, 1989). Les comportements antisociaux de différents ordres, comme la consommation de substances psychoactives ou des comportements sexuels à risque, sont souvent observés chez les adolescents avant qu'ils ne deviennent pères (Pears et al, 2005).…”

The transition to early fatherhood

“…The more limited research on early male fertility indicates that men with fewer opportunities are similarly more likely to experience early fertility than their counterparts from more advantaged backgrounds (Glick, Ruf, White, and Goldscheider 2006;Hanson, Morrison, and Ginsburg 1989;Pears et al 2005;Rindfuss, Morgan, and Swicegood 1988). As men's family roles are changing, however, defining opportunity costs for men is arguably less straightforward than it is for women and will likely depend on whether the birth occurs within marriage.…”

Does it Take Two? The Effect of Partners' Characteristics on Teenage Pregnancy

“…Using data from surveys of adolescent males, studies have explored the effects of young men's family background, education, and other characteristics on whether they became a father or had a partner become pregnant (Hanson, Morrison, and Ginsburg, 1989;Ku, Sonenstein, and Pleck, 1993;Robbins, Kaplan, and Martins, 1985;Thornberry, Smith, and Howard, 1997). However, adolescent males do not cause all teenage pregnancies, and little is known about older sexual partners of teenaged women (Darroch, Landry, and Oslak, 1999).…”