The United States has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy among industrialized countries, with more than 750,000 pregnancies each year among women less than 20 years of age. Though teen pregnancy rates in the US had declined each year since 1991, the most recent national data show that rates of teen pregnancy, abortion, and birth are on the rise. Rhode Island has 2,430 teen pregnancies p...

The purpose of this study was to examine maternal and adolescent depression, maternal and teen sensation seeking, and maternal smoking, and their associations with adolescent smoking. Data were collected from a sample of 47 male and 66 female adolescents (ages 11-18 years) and their mothers from three different health clinics. The findings indicated that maternal sensation seeking was linked in...

Background: Teen childbearing has potential negative health, economic, and social consequences for mother and child. Repeat teen childbearing further constrains the mother’s education and employment possibilities. Rates of preterm and low birth weight are higher in teens with a repeat birth, compared with first births. Methods: To assess patterns of repeat childbearing and postpartum contracept...

In a statewide random telephone survey of 454 parents and their 14- to 19-year-old adolescents, we examined the associations between various parenting strategies and self-reported teen drinking. Less teen drinking was associated with parents' reports of checking to see if other parents would be present at teen parties, particularly among White parents. Parents' monitoring of teens' activities w...

This study examines female adolescents' responses to opportunities, costs, and community in West Virginia. It is posited that adolescent women's responses to structurally determined contextual factors will be the most important determinant of the teen birth rate. It is posited that girls avoid becoming pregnant and work to stay in school as a wise investment in their future. The variation in...

OBJECTIVE: Prospectively track teen childbirths in maltreated and nonmaltreated females and test the hypothesis that child maltreatment is an independent predictor of subsequent teen childbirth over and above demographic characteristics and other risk factors. METHODS: Nulliparous adolescent females (N = 435) aged 14 to 17 years were assessed annually through age 19 years. Maltreated females we...

BACKGROUND The children of teen mothers have been reported to have higher rates of several unfavorable mental health outcomes. Past research suggests several possible mechanisms for an association between religiosity and teen birth rate in communities. METHODS The present study compiled publicly accessible data on birth rates, conservative religious beliefs, income, and abortion rates in the ...

We compared school-based abstinence-only programs with those including contraceptive information (abstinence-plus) to determine which has the greatest impact on teen pregnancy. The United States has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the industrialized world. Programs aimed at reducing the rate of teen pregnancy include a myriad of approaches including encouraging abstinence, providi...

INTRODUCTION Smoking experimentation represents transient risk taking for some youth, whereas for others, it is the onset of a chronic smoking trajectory. However, distinguishing these groups during the experimentation phase has proved challenging. We theorized that variations in parent and teen discourse about smoking might be informative for characterizing this heterogeneity. However, standar...

Teen pregnancy and parenting remain an important public health issue in the United States and the world, and many children live with their adolescent parents alone or as part of an extended family. A significant proportion of teen parents reside with their family of origin, significantly affecting the multigenerational family structure. Repeated births to teen parents are also common. This clin...