Based on a longitudinal survey of first parity, mostly Black mothers in New York City, examines the coping strategies of unmarried mothers. Analyzes the expansion of role responsibilities and support systems utilized and discusses the relationship between support systems and subsequent fertility. Presents three case studies. (Author/GC)

Social disorganization in the family was found to be strongly related to the likelihood of child maltreatment. Utilization of social services, on the other hand, had a counterbalancing, negative impact on the occurrence of child maltreatment. (Author/CS)

Focusing on developmental factors that highlight the broad social context and the psychosocial issues, this article discusses adolescent mothers' varying identity struggles regarding the maternal role that contribute to their attitudes toward mothering and how they approach their relationships with their children. Discusses implications of this…

Details creation of Adoption Option, Inc., a public adoption agency founded in 1986 in Ohio. Highlights three program areas of agency's mission: (1) training for those who assist pregnant women/teens with unplanned pregnancies; (2) educational programs for school-based health curricula; and (3) media initiative to convey accurate information about…

This investigation examines whether access to social capital reduces the chance that teens will cohabit or have a nonmaritally conceived birth. Using data from a nationally representative panel study of eighth-grade girls and their parents, we hypothesize that girls who have (and whose families have) dense community ties as well as greater access…

Those interested in critical, feminist, and anti-racist pedagogy are on a search for means to counter dominant ways of speaking about stigmatized groups. Some see promise in popular theater, which starts from the experience of those on the margins. This ethnographic study followed 12 teen mothers, a highly stereotyped group, as they wrote and…

New Mexico's teenage pregnancy rate ranks third in the nation. Among New Mexico's teenage women, birth rates are 31% higher than the national rate for the 15 to 17 age group and 30% higher for the 18 to 19 age group. The New Mexico Survivorship Study, a longitudinal investigation being conducted in an effort to reduce these figures, uses the…

The intent of this study was to investigate cognitive performance among Head Start children and to draw implications from such performance to increase understanding of the educational needs of Head Start children from families headed by unwed-mothers. Specific questions addressed whether cognitive performance among Head Start children differed on…

(Available from Publications Clerk, Institute of Government, University of North Carolina, P.O. Box 990, Chapel Hill, NC 27514; $4.00 annually)

Births occurring each year in North Dakota of children born out of wedlock impacts the state both financially and in terms of the utilization of social services. The Department of Human Services provides financial assistance as well as services to parents of out of wedlock children in order to help the mother and/or father develop better parenting…

Presented before the Section on Mental Health, American College Health Association, Forty-sixth Annual Meeting, Mineapolis, Minnesota, May 3, 1968.

Out-of-wedlock birth rates have not fallen much at all among teenagers. New analyses of existing data sets indicate that becoming an out-of-wedlock parent is a process with three stages: commencement of sexual activity; conception among the sexually active; and pregnancy outcome among those who conceive. Public policy variables such as AFDC…

This student manual, part of the Family and Community Health Through Caregiving program, explores the impact a baby has on its family. Case studies and activities help high school students in: (1) understanding the responsibilities of parenthood; (2) becoming aware of increasing numbers of adolescent pregnancies; and (3) picturing themselves as…

Most research on teenage parenthood is concerned with illegitimacy and its determinants such as attitudes toward sex, contraceptive knowledge and practice, family relationships, and cultural factors. Empirical studies on the consequences of illegitimacy are generally limited to problems of recidivism, school dropouts, and welfare dependency.…

This paper examines the problem of teenage women who, because of deep-rooted pathological, psychological reasons, become pregnant repeatedly. All too frequently after giving birth to a series of unwanted, uncared for children these women and their children become psychiatric casualties. Attempts by helping agencies to deal with these adolescents…