Fighting and depression among poor pregnant adolescents

A Comparative Assessment of Early Adult Life Status of Graduates of the North Carolina Adolescent Parenting Program

“…While some recent analyses (e.g., Fletcher & Wolfe, 2009) suggest that being a teen mother increases the risk of not completing high school, needing to rely on cash assistance while parenting, receiving less postsecondary education, and having slightly lower earnings potential compared with nonparenting female adolescents, there is also evidence that having a child may actually benefit disadvantaged teens. Female teens who become mothers tend to avoid risky behaviors such as delinquency activities, smoking, and drug use (e.g., Corcoran, Franklin, & Bennett, 2000; Herman, 2006; Hope, Wilder, & Watt, 2003; Shanok & Miller, 2005), and orient toward self‐improvement such as focusing on school achievement, enrolling in school, and employment (e.g., Corcoran et al., 2000; Herman, 2006; Hotz et al., 2005; SmithBattle, 2007b). This would seem to indicate that rather than being a time of developmental breakdown, for at least a good proportion of female adolescents who become pregnant, the experience heightens their sense of responsibility and hastens their transition to maturity (Shanok & Miller, 2007).…”

Legacies of Advantage and Disadvantage: The Case of Teen Mothers

“…Other studies suggest that teen mothering may promote positive behavioral changes, at least in the short term. For example, pregnant or parenting teens decrease risky behavior and consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, or marijuana, sometimes to rates even lower than their nonpregnant peers (Hope, Wilder, & Watt, 2003; Shanok & Miller, 2005). Pillow (2004) disputes the claim that pregnancy itself derails girls' education, because a majority of teen mothers drop out before pregnancy.…”

Stepping up to Motherhood among Inner-City Teens

“…Though time since conception varied between participants (range = 1 to 34 months), and the year before pregnancy is a fixed amount of time, the number of fights since becoming pregnant was not associated with time since conception. (For elaboration on fighting in this sample, see Shanok and Miller (2005).) On the questionnaire, no one reported drinking or using illegal drugs since becoming pregnant, 81% reported not using caffiene or smoking cigarettes, 17% reported using caffeine, and one baby mother endorsed smoking cigarettes.…”