Teenage childbearing. An adaptive strategy for the socioeconomically disadvantaged or a strategy for adapting to socioeconomic disadvantage?
C. Stevens-Simon and R. Lowy
Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Health Science Center, Denver, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation between childbearing and educational and
vocational achievements of American females high school students. DATA
SOURCE: Articles published in English during the past decade about the
educational, vocational, and socioeconomic sequelae of childbearing among
female high school students. DATA SELECTION: Articles that did not contain
data about the relation between adolescent childbearing and educational and
vocational achievement were excluded. DATA SYNTHESIS: Most females who
begin childbearing during adolescence obtain less schooling and
poorer-paying jobs than do females who postpone childbearing. The reasons
for this are elusive. Differences in the family and cultural backgrounds of
early (high school-age) and later (18 years and older) childbearers explain
some but not all of the association between early childbearing and
educational and vocational underachievement. The effect of childbearing
preferences on the educational and vocational achievements of teenagers has
not been studied adequately. Lack of concrete information could result in
underestimation of the effect of early childbearing on the socioeconomic
well-being of young Americans, and create the impression that adolescent
pregnancy is an adaptive response to urban poverty. CONCLUSIONS: As much as
the long-term socioeconomic sequelae of adolescent childbearing reflect
factors that influence the judgments young people make about the costs and
benefits of contraception and parenthood, adolescent childbearing is a
means of adapting to urban poverty. Thus postponing adolescent conceptions
and parenthood may have a less important effect on the socioeconomic
well-being of young Americans than expected.
