Correlates of Dysfunctional Parenting Attitudes among Low-Income Adolescent Mothers

Abstract

Various scholars have speculated that adolescent mothers are at risk for negative parenting. It was therefore the purpose of this study to assess dysfunctional attitudes of adolescent mothers through a secondary analysis of a subsample of 157 participants from a large-scale, ongoing longitudinal study. Belsky 's process model of parenting was used as a framework to assess the adolescent mothers' parental attitudes at I year postpartum. Two sets of multiple regression analyses were performed: (a) ordinary least squares regressiont was used to assess predictors of generally dysfunctional parenting attitudes as continluously measured; and (b) logistic multiple regression was used to determine predictors of risk for child abuse and neglect with the dependent measure dichotomized based on normative data. The results of multiple regression analyses supported the Belsky orderinig ofpredictors, in that personal andpsychological resources of the parent were more predictive of dysfunctionalparenting attitudes than contextual sources of stress and support, which were more effective than characteristics of the child.