Parental support and conflictive relationships in 48 black and white adolescent mothers (ages 14-19) were examined when their babies were 3 months old. Self-esteem and supportive relationships with fathers were negatively associated with depressive symptomatology among adolescent mothers. Differences in parental relationships and racial…

This study explored the differences between African American and Latina female adolescents who desire to become pregnant and those who do not. Five hundred and thirty-one sexually experienced, never pregnant adolescents completed surveys containing questions about demographics, sexual behavior and contraceptive use, sexual and contraceptive…

Part of a larger study of adolescent social-cognitive development and its influence on mother/child interaction, this investigation compared three methods of recording observations of mother/child interaction. It also explored correlations between sociodemographic variables and factor scores that summarized interaction variables. The sample…

Assessed the parenting behaviors of 193 white and African American mothers 15-24 years of age when their children were 12 and 36 months old. Cluster analysis of three dimensions of parenting was used to identify five types of parenting patterns. The strongest discriminating factor--maternal IQ--was associated with more positive parenting behavior…

Studied influence of maternal versus paternal support for pregnant and parenting African American adolescents who reported supportive or problematic interactions, or both, with their parents. Found more support from mothers despite equal relationship problem levels with both parents; support of both parents was associated with lower depression…

This journal issue focuses on family service clinical responses to infants and families. In "The Therapeutic Relationship as Human Connectedness," Jeree H. Pawl stresses the importance of caregivers creating in children the sense and experience of human connectedness that arises from the feeling of existing in the mind of someone…

Analyzing data from the High School and Beyond survey on the behavior of 13,000 high school sophomore women over a two-year period, this document reveals the following facts about single motherhood: (1) young women with different background profiles exhibit markedly different rates of single parenthood; (2) because teenage women who become single…