title: A seven-year investigation of marital expectations and marriage among urban, low-income, African American adolescent mothers.
abstract: Welfare reform has targeted marriage promotion among low-income women. This study explores patterns of marital expectations and marriage among 181 urban, low-income, African American adolescent mothers and their mothers. Using PROC TRAJ to analyze developmental trajectories of adolescent mother-grandmother relationship quality over 24 months, we categorized relationships as either high or low support. We examined the effects of intergenerational marriage models and adolescent mother-grandmother relationship quality on marital expectations and marriage over the first 7 years postpartum. At 24 months, half (52%) of adolescent mothers expected to marry, but marital expectations did not predict marriage. Marital expectations were associated with concurrent involvement in a romantic relationship, not intergenerational marriage models or a supportive adolescent mother-grandmother relationship. After 7 years, 14% of adolescent mothers were married. Married mothers lived in families characterized by the joint effects of intergenerational marriage models and supportive adolescent mother-grandmother relationships. They were older and had more children than did single mothers, suggesting that they were in a family formation phase of life. Policies that promote the education and employment opportunities necessary to support a family are needed.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Oberlander
authors.forename: Wendy R Miller
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Agostini
authors.forename: Avril Melissa
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Houston
authors.forename: Maureen M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Black
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*