Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood have become increasingly important public policy issues in recent years for many reasons, including concerns about their prevalence, about the economic and social problems faced by young mothers and their children, and about the budgetary effects of adolescent parents' reliance on public assistance programs. Although teenage pregnancy rates leveled off during the 1980s, the fraction of births to unmarried women doubled, increasing the prevalence of problems associated with young motherhood. A young mother has three potential sources of private income: her parents and other relatives; her husband or the father of her children; and her own earnings. Young mothers are likely to be poor during the first few years after they have children, particularly those who are unmarried and living with only their children. Federal policies addressing the problems associated with adolescent motherhood might follow two approaches: policies to reduce the incidence of births to teenagers, thus avoiding the problems; and policies to increase the resources of young mothers. Because the problems faced by teenage mothers are complex and interrelated, a wide range of policies would probably be required to address them. (ABL)