A longitudinal examination of US teen childbearing and smoking risk

Abstract

BACKGROUND Teenage motherhood and smoking have important health implications for youth in the United States and globally, but the link between teen childbearing and subsequent smoking is inadequately understood. The selection of disadvantaged young women into early childbearing and smoking may explain higher smoking levels among teen mothers, but teen motherhood may also shape subsequent smoking through compromised maternal depression or socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity may condition these processes. OBJECTIVE This study examines the relationship between US teen childbearing and subsequent daily smoking, accounting for prior smoking and selection processes related to social disadvantage. Analyses investigate whether socioeconomic status and depression in young adulthood explained any relationship between teen childbearing and daily smoking, as well as examining racial/ethnic heterogeneity in these processes. METHODS Multivariate binary logistic regression analyses employ the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health; N = 7,529). RESULTS The highest daily smoking prevalence occurred among non-Hispanic White teen mothers, with lower prevalence among Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black teen mothers. Compared to other women, teenage mothers are 2.5 times as likely to smoke daily in young adulthood. Their greater likelihood of daily smoking is due in part to selection and is also mediated by socioeconomic status in ways that differ by race/ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that preventing teen pregnancy or ameliorating its socioeconomic consequences may decrease daily smoking in this vulnerable population. Reducing teen smoking, especially during pregnancy, could improve teen, maternal, and infant health and thereby increase US health and longevity. CONTRIBUTION This study provides new, nationally representative information about selection, mediation, and heterogeneity processes in the relationship between teen childbearing and subsequent smoking.

Does Social Protection Affect Infant Welfare?

“…On the other hand, Infant welfare also related with their mother life style, such as smoking, alcoholic, body exercise, and level of nutrition their consumed. The smoker teen mother who are reducing smoking during pregnancy, can improve teen, maternal, and infant health status, in the US health status increase and longevity (Sloan and Wang, 2008;Mollborn, Woo and Rogers, 2019). Moreover, Kodzi and Kravdal (2019) found that increasing parity on having a child with low birth weight at normative range, but the high parities have the lower chance of low birth weight than the low parities.…”

“…Those programs will have strong impact for future generation if the government invests their money to protect the vulnerable groups especially infant and low income pregnant mother. Therefore, the infant welfare is related with families' background such as income, education, life style, and health awareness (physical and mental) (Sparrow, 2006; The National Team for Acceleration of Poverty Reduction, 2014; Kodzi and Kravdal, 2019;Mollborn, Woo and Rogers, 2019).…”