Social support in pregnant and parenting adolescents: research, critique, and recommendations.
ISSUE AND PURPOSE: Adolescent pregnancies continue to occur at an alarming rate in the United States, resulting in adverse outcomes for both the adolescent and her baby. Since social support has been shown to improve pregnancy and parenting outcomes, a critique of research in this area is presented.


METHODS
Published literature.


CONCLUSIONS
Multisite research studies, which are longitudinal in design, are needed, with particular attention paid to variations in the need for social support by stage of adolescence.
Logsdon
M Cynthia
MC
Spalding University, Louisville, KY, USA. mclogsd01@aol.com
Birkimer
John C
JC
Ratterman
Amelia
A
Cahill
Krista
K
Cahill
Nancy
N
D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006803:Human Development; D006801:Humans; D016487:Parenting; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D012107:Research Design; D012944:Social Support; D014481:United States