School-age mothers: predictors of long-term educational and economic outcomes.
The long-term effects of school-age pregnancy were investigated in a 20-year follow-up of a cohort of women who were pregnant adolescents in the late 1960s. Of the 149 living young black primiparas in the original cohort, 121 (81%) were located and interviewed. At follow-up the study population ranged in age from 32 to 38 years, 68% were unmarried, 71% had finished high school, 82% were completely self-supporting, and 27% reported living in public housing. Long-term success, defined as currently employed or supported by a spouse and a high school education (62%) or its equivalent, was associated with six features: having completed more school prior to becoming pregnant (odds ratio [OR] = 18; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.3, 139.5); participating more actively in a program intervention offered to these pregnant teenagers 20 years ago (OR = 11.11; 95% CI 1.54, 79.87); being in school with no subsequent pregnancy at 26 months postpartum (OR = 10.1; 95% CI 1.64, 62.07); feeling in control of one's life (OR = 5.4; 95% CI 1.36, 21.54) and little social isolation (OR = 8.24; 95% CI 1.56, 43.50) at 26 months postpartum; and lifetime fertility control defined as one or two children after the index child (OR = 14.19; 95% CI 3.28, 61.29). It is concluded that most former teenage mothers complete a reasonable amount of education and are economically self-sufficient.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Horwitz
S M
SM
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510.
Klerman
L V
LV
Kuo
H S
HS
Jekel
J F
JF
D000293:Adolescent; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006040:Goals; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008393:Marriage; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000523:psychology*; D012923:Social Class