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Adolescent Pregnancy

  • Chapter
Handbook of Adolescent Health Risk Behavior

Part of the book series: Issues in Clinical Child Psychology ((ICCP))

Abstract

During the past three decades, adolescent pregnancy has become a source of increasing social, economic, and political concern in the United States. Bearing children during adolescence has profound health and social consequences for most young parents and their children (Furstenberg, Brooks-Gunn, & Morgan, 1987; Stevens-Simon & White, 1991; Moore & Waite, 1977; Card & Wise, 1978). The results of studies conducted over the past 30 years suggest that adolescent pregnancy limits the educational achievements and the vocational opportunities of adolescent females. Additionally, it contributes to the impoverishment of one of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged segments of our society, and promotes the intergenerational transmission of poverty (Furstenberg et al., 1987; Stevens-Simon & White, 1991; Moore & Waite, 1977; Card & Wise, 1978). After an extensive review of the literature, a panel established by the National Research Council reached the following conclusion: “Women who become parents as teenagers are at greater risk of social and economic disadvantage throughout their lives than those who delay childbearing until their twenties. They are less likely to complete their education, to be employed, to earn high wages, and to be happily married, and they are more likely to have larger families and to receive welfare” (Hayes, 1987).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of Colorado Health Science Center, The Children’s Hospital, Denver, Colorado, 80218, USA

    Catherine Stevens-Simon

  2. Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, 14642, USA

    Elizabeth R. McAnarney

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  1. Catherine Stevens-Simon
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  2. Elizabeth R. McAnarney
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Health Behavior and Pediatrics, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA

    Ralph J. DiClemente Ph.D.

  2. Department of Public Health Sciences, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA

    William B. Hansen Ph.D.

  3. Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

    Lynn E. Ponton Ph.D.

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Stevens-Simon, C., McAnarney, E.R. (1996). Adolescent Pregnancy. In: DiClemente, R.J., Hansen, W.B., Ponton, L.E. (eds) Handbook of Adolescent Health Risk Behavior. Issues in Clinical Child Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0203-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0203-0_12

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-0203-0

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