Experiences with psychiatric services in a program for pregnant school-age girls

Abstract

This paper describes the characteristics of girls referred to a consulting psychiatrist by the Young Mothers Clinic, part of a comprehensive service program for school-age mothers in New Haven, Conn. This program provided obstetrical, educational, and social services to the study group, which consisted of 180 patients who entered the clinic over a two year period. All of the study group were under 18 years of age and unwed when they registered for the clinic, and most were nonwhite. — Twenty-five of the 180 girls were referred to the psychiatrist. Common reasons for referral included lack of attention, delinquency, learning difficulties at school, withdrawn behavior, depression, suicidal threats, and chaotic home situations. Those referred were found frequently to have 1. a history of contact with juvenile court and/or 2. low scores on the Wechsler intelligence scales and poor scores on the Bender Gestalt test. — White girls were more likely to be referred than were nonwhite girls. Girls 15 years of age or under were more likely to be referred than older girls. These two groups (i.e. the younger group and the white group) tended to come from extremely disorganized homes. — Clinically, the psychiatrist was impressed by the repeated history of maternal deprivation among the referred patients. She hypothesized that the girls' unfulfilled yearning for closeness with their mothers may have driven them toward early physical relationships with boys, resulting in the pregnancies. Therapeutic recommendations were difficult to implement primarily because the girls, for various reasons, did not follow through with referrals to other sources of care.