This article examines the literature on schooling for teenage mothers in order to expose the normalizing discourses that position young mothers as at risk for failure. Through an exploration of the historical and socio-cultural positioning of teenage mothers over the past few decades, the author illustrates the schooled responses to adolescent…

The phenomenon of teenage motherhood is a major concern worldwide. The teenage mothers endure many challenges that could affect their academic goals and successes if there is insufficient support. However, some teenage mothers manage to develop certain forms of flexibility to manage these adversities. This study explored the teenage mothers'…

Non-marital childbearing is associated with many adverse outcomes for both the mother and the child. Most of these births are unintended. If these unintended births could be reduced it might improve children's prospects by enabling their mothers to get more education, earn more, and wait to have children within marriage. In this brief, the authors…

There are no obvious or easy prescriptions for reversing the trends of the familial challenges that have grown deeper and wider in the last fifty years in regard to the number of babies born to unwed mothers, with the majority of all children born to women in their 20s. This article discusses the challenges regarding the marriage crisis in…

While recent research has shown the long-term effects of teen pregnancy are not as devastating as once predicted, more than 40 years after the passage of Title IX legislation mandating equal educational opportunities for pregnant and parenting teens, only 50% of teen parents graduate high school, lagging far behind their non-parenting peers. This…

This paper examines two aspects of teen childbearing in the United States. First, it reviews and synthesizes the evidence on the reasons why teen birth rates are so uniquely high in the United States and especially in some states. Second, it considers why and how it matters. We argue that economists' typical explanations are unable to account for…

Can the use of a method such as role play help reduce sexual risk behaviour among KwaZulu-Natal learners? A study was undertaken of the use of role plays by Grade 8 learners, at eight urban and rural KwaZulu-Natal high schools, as part of a programme to reduce the prevalence of teenage pregnancy. Within the framework of Bandura's Social Cognitive…

Using data on low-income mothers in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio, we test three propositions regarding mothers' attitudes toward childbearing, marriage, and divorce. These are drawn from K. Edin and M. J. Kefalas (2005) but have also arisen in other recent studies. We find strong support for the proposition that childbearing outside of…

Since welfare reform in 1996, marriage has been promoted as a means to reduce welfare dependency and out-of-wedlock childbearing. Despite extensive public and academic discourse surrounding marriage promotion, a basic factor preceding and predicting marriage--expectations to marry--has received little attention. Using insights from the life course…

Contested social norms underlie public concern about adults' and teenagers' nonmarital pregnancy. The original, vignette-based National Pregnancy Norms Survey (N = 812) measures these norms and related sanctions. Descriptive analyses report embarrassment at the prospect of a nonmarital pregnancy by age and gender of hypothetical prospective…

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey (N= 3,567), we examine the links between relationship status, relationship quality, and race and ethnicity in breastfeeding initiation. We consider four relationship types: married, cohabiting, romantically involved but not cohabiting (termed visiting), and nonromantically involved…

A number of questions relating to providing abortion information to teenagers can be raised from legal, ethical and philosophical standpoints. The purpose of this article is to examine abortion information-giving from the perspective of counseling and guidance theory and practice. (Author)

This article presents the kind of information that the author feels should be readily available to young women who must make a decision regarding an unwanted pregnancy. (Author)

Describes a model program to address the problems of pregnant teens. Services include education, health care assistance, economic self-support assistance, prevention of child abuse, family preservation, coordination of helping programs, and counseling on options. (CH)

This paper is based on a presentation at the CWLA Eastern Regional Conference at Baltimore in 1969 (MG)