Social consequences of psychiatric disorders, II: Teenage parenthood.
OBJECTIVE
The subject of this study was the relation between retrospectively reported early-onset psychiatric disorders and subsequent teenage parenthood in the general population.


METHODS
The data were from 5,877 respondents aged 15-54 years in the National Comorbidity Survey, a nationally representative household survey. Information on respondents' DSM-III-R anxiety disorders, mood disorders, substance abuse disorders, and conduct disorder, age at the birth of the first child, and teenage sexual activity was collected in face-to-face interviews.


RESULTS
Early-onset psychiatric disorders were associated with subsequent teenage parenthood among both females and males, with significant odds ratios of 2.0-12.0 and population attributable risk proportions of 6.2%-33.7%. Disaggregation analyses showed that disorders were associated with increased probability of sexual activity but not with decreased probability of using contraception.


CONCLUSIONS
These results add to a growing body of evidence that psychiatric disorders are associated with a variety of adverse life consequences. The current policy debate concerning universal insurance coverage needs to take this into consideration. Planners of interventions aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy should consider including a mental health treatment component in their intervention packages. Mental health professionals treating adolescents need to be sensitized to their higher risk of pregnancy, while family doctors and specialists treating teenage mothers or their children need to be sensitized to the mothers' higher risk of psychiatric disorder.
Kessler
R C
RC
Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115-5899, USA.
Berglund
P A
PA
Foster
C L
CL
Saunders
W B
WB
Stang
P E
PE
Walters
E E
EE
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D015897:Comorbidity; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005260:Female; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006801:Humans; D007086:Illegitimacy; D007348:Insurance, Health; D008423:Maternal Age; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010290:Parents; D010331:Paternal Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012946:Social Welfare; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology