We studied multiple parenting cognitions and practices in European American mothers (N = 262) who ranged in age from 15 to 47 years. All were first-time parents of 20-month-old children. Some age effects were zero; others were linear or nonlinear. Nonlinear age effects determined by spline regression showed significant associations to a "knot" age (~30 years) with little or no association afterward. For parenting cognitions and practices that are age-sensitive, a two-phase model of parental development is proposed. These findings stress the importance of considering maternal chronological age as a factor in developmental study.
Maternal Age and ParentingIncreasing numbers of adult women in the United States and Europe are delaying conception, expanding the age range for pregnancy and birth Mirowsky, 2002;Paulsen & Sachs, 1998). According to the National Vital Statistics Report , birth rates for 30-to 39-year-old women increased by about 1% each year from 1991 to 2003, and births to women aged 35-39 and 40-44 years rose 38% and 58%, respectively, from 1990 to 2003. At the same time, the United States has the highest percentage of teen (15-19) births among industrialized nations (415,408 babies in the United States in 2004;. These demographics beg questions about what associations might obtain between maternal age per se and parenting and family process, the main concerns of this study.The psychosocial impacts of early childbirth are now fairly well established. Younger mothers are known to possess less knowledge about parenting, to express less desirable childrearing attitudes, and to hold less realistic expectations about child development than older mothers (Hardy, Astone, Brooks-Gunn, Shapiro, & Miller, 1998; Moore & BrooksGunn, 2002;Sommer et al., 1993). Parenthood at very young ages is also associated with less favorable maternal behaviors toward children (Barratt & Roach, 1995; Coley & ChaseLansdale, 1998;Moore & Brooks-Gunn, 2002;Pomerleau, Scuccimarri, & Malcuit, 2003). For example, teenage mothers have been found to be less verbal, less sensitive, and less responsive to their children than older mothers (Culp, Appelbaum, Osofsky, & Levy, 1988
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Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript and they tend to provide a less stimulating home environment (Luster & Dubow, 1990;Moore, Morrison, & Greene, 1997). Distinctive characteristics of adolescent mothers may place them at risk for nonoptimal parenting (Whitman, Borkowski, Schellenbach, & Nath, 1987): Teenage mothers have diminished intellectual ability and lower educational attainment, are less socioemotionally mature, and possess fewer social supports with the consequence that they are less well prepared to parent (Coll, Hoffman, & Oh, 1987;Streetman, 1987). To the extent that adolescent mothers are challenged by their own developmental crises in the search for personal identity, they are less likely to invest in parenting or command the wherewithal to parent optimally.At the older end of the age continuum...