Adolescent Family Life Research Grants - FY 2007

Effects of Adolescent Childbearing for Families and Siblings

Grantee Organization:
The Regents of the University of California, San Diego
Department of Pediatrics
San Diego, CA 92103
Principal Investigator: Patricia East, PhD
Project Officer: Inyang Isong MD, MPH.
Project Period: 04/01/2007-03/31/2010

The proposed project builds on a previous research project to learn more about the longer-term effects of adolescent childbearing for Latino families of a pregnant/parenting teen by continuing to follow-up for a total of five waves of longitudinal data. A comparison sample of Latino families who have never experienced a teenage pregnancy will also continue to be followed. The across-time changes in family functioning may reveal how families adapt to adolescent childbearing within the household. In particular, analytical efforts will be made to identify individual- and family-level risk factors that contribute to siblings' high pregnancy rates and sexual risk behaviors, as well as the protective-buffering factors that promote siblings' positive prevention behaviors and their successful avoidance of early pregnancy. The proposed study also incorporates a daily diary method to discern on a more day-to-day basis how the lives of youth in teen parenting families differ from other youth. Attention will also be given to the role of school disengagement processes among Latino youth and its contribution to the high teenage pregnancy rate within this population. Findings can inform both pregnancy prevention programs targeted toward younger siblings and also interventions that aim to aid family adaptation to a daughter's teenage parenting.

Teens' Pre- and Post-Partum Health Risks and Use of Care

Grantee Organization:
Research Triangle Institute
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Principal Investigator: Ellen K.Wilson, Ph.D.
Project Officer: Eugenia Eckard
Project Period: 4/01/2007-3/31/2010

The objective of this research is to identify maternal health risk of adolescent mothers and their infants. Specific aims are: 1) To gain a comprehensive understanding of a wide range of adolescent maternal health behaviors during pregnancy and the months following delivery by studying the behaviors together; and 2) To conduct in-depth investigation of three key issues: a) use of prenatal care, b) postpartum contraception, and c) social support. The mixed-methods approach involves the analysis of data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data set and a qualitative component involving in-depth interviews with 30 adolescent mothers and 14 of their mother figures. The plan is to identify the most important maternal health risks among adolescent mothers and to identify subgroups of greatest risk in order to effectively target interventions. It is believed that improved understanding of the relationships between risk factors and maternal health behaviors and the effect of health services and other factors on the behaviors can help improve program design.

Effects of Material Resources on the Early Development of Teen Parents' Children

Grantee Organization:
University of Colorado
Institute of Behavioral Science Population Program
Boulder, CO
Principal Investigator: Stefanie Mollborn, Ph.D.
Project Officer: Barbara Cohen
Project Period: 4/01/2007-3/31/2010

Secondary data analysis is proposed to investigate the relationship between material resources such as income, housing and child care and the early development of the children of teenage mothers. This addresses a question often posed by researchers as to whether the adverse effects of adolescent parenting on children are a result of the young age of the mother (and often the father as well) or of the poor material resources of teenage parents. The data to be analyzed is from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, a nationally-representative survey that investigates the lives and early development from birth to age 2 for children born in 2001. Two major research questions guide the analysis: 1) to what extent does a lack of material resources explain the relationship between having an adolescent mother or father and the developmental outcomes of two-year olds; and 2) what are the mechanisms, such as adolescent parents' education, depression, and marital stability/quality, by which resources may affect children's outcomes. The findings may give insights as to how to close the developmental gap between the children of teenage parents and their peers through interventions that work to reduce early disadvantage and prevent it from accumulating over time.