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...

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...

Title of Document: LOW-INCOME TEEN FATHERS’ TRAJECTORY OF INVOLVEMENT: THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL, CONTEXTUAL, AND COPARENTAL FACTORS Allison Kay Holmes, Ph.D., 2009 Directed By: Professor Brenda Jones Harden, Ph.D., Human Development and Child Studies While teen births are on the rise and marriage rates are on the decline, fathers have become a recent focus. However, there is a dearth of lite...

OBJECTIVE The study seeks to examine factors associated with teen mothers' use of modern contraceptives after giving birth. METHODS The 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey data was used to test the study objective. A sample of 12, 911 teen mothers aged between 10 and 18 years were extracted from 23, 020 women and were asked of contraceptive usage after first birth experiences, in which,...

Teen Courts are an effective judicial alternative for many youth offenders. The majority of youth courts deal solely with first-time offenders. However, repeat offenders are at a greater risk for future crime. Is Teen Court effective with more experienced offenders? In this study, the authors examine the outcomes of 26 Whatcom County Teen Court offenders with at least one prior conviction. The ...

Graduated driving licensing laws are now in place in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. However, despite stricter supervised driving requirements, restrictions on the number of passengers, and earlier nighttime driving curfews, teen drivers continue to be at a higher crash risk than the adult driving population. The National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS) dataset wa...

Despite the national goal of "drug-free" schools, recent data suggest that chemical abuse among school-aged children remains a concern. This qualitative case study presents a "unique case" within one school's substance abuse prevention program. In this program, pioneered in 1973, pairs of teen counselors "adopt" a middle school classroom and make regularly scheduled visits to conduct chemical a...

Teen childbearing can have negative health, economic, and social consequences for mothers and their children (1) and costs the United States approximately $9.4 billion annually (2). During 1991-2014, the birth rate among teens aged 15-19 years in the United States declined 61%, from 61.8 to 24.2 births per 1,000, the lowest rate ever recorded (3). Nonetheless, in 2014, the teen birth rate remai...