A comparison of childhood backgrounds of teenage mothers and their non‐mother peers: A new formulation

Abstract

Thirty-nine teenage mothers and 35 non-mothers, acquired by snowball sampling, provided data regarding their demographic and childhood backgrounds for an exploratory, hypothesis-generating study. Teenage mothers tended to have experienced foster care, family violence, parental substance abuse, lower educational achievements, as well as violence, alcohol abuse, and lower education among their boyfriends to a greater extent than did non-mothers. These results were discussed in terms of a new formulation of antecedents to teenage pregnancy.