Early subsequent pregnancy among economically disadvantaged teenage mothers.

Abstract

This study investigated the antecedents and short-term consequences of an early subsequent pregnancy in a sample of economically disadvantaged teenage mothers. Data were gathered over a two-year period from a sample of 675 young mothers living in eight United States cities. Within two years of the initial interview, when half the sample was still pregnant with the index pregnancy, nearly half of the sample experienced a second- or higher-order pregnancy. Characteristics of the young women at entry into the study were relatively poor predictors of which teenagers would conceive again by the final interview. An early repeat pregnancy was associated with a number of negative short-term consequences in the areas of education, employment, and welfare dependency, even after background characteristics were statistically controlled.