Long-Term Consequences of Teenage Parenthood Among Disadvantaged African American Urban Youth

Introduction: Although teen pregnancy rates in the U.S. have decreased over the past several decades, teenage parenthood remains a major public health concern, particularly among youth from disadvantaged backgrounds. Research indicates that compared with their peers who postponed childbearing, teenage mothers have worse socioeconomic outcomes; however, long-term effects are not well understood, nor are consequences for teenage fathers. Studies are limited in their ability to account for selection effects, rarely have compared effects for men and women nor have examined consequences extending into midlife to understand long-term effects. Based on a life course perspective, we examined short- and long-term socioeconomic outcomes associated with teenage parenting for both men and women.

Methods: This analysis is based on the Woodlawn Study, a longitudinal study of an African American cohort from a socially disadvantaged community in Chicago; data were collected at four points: childhood (N=1,241), adolescence (N=705), age 32 (N = 952), and age 42 (N =833). We used propensity score matching to control for differences in background characteristics between adolescent parents and their peers, and multiple imputation to account for differential attrition. Regression analysis was used on the matched sample to identify consequences of teenage parenting for men and women separately.

Results: Results of the regression models on matched samples showed that at age 32, in comparison to non-teen mothers, adolescent mothers were more likely to be unemployed, live in poverty, depend on welfare, and have earned a GED or completed high school compared to finishing college. At age 32, teen fathers were more likely to be without a job compared to non-teen fathers. At age 42, the effect of teen parenting for women remained statistically significant for education, welfare and income. There were no statistically significant associations between teen parenting and outcomes for men age 42.

Conclusions: Parenting at an early age is a life event that perpetuates the socioeconomic disadvantages experienced in childhood for women in particular.  These negative effects are widespread in young adulthood and still present in midlife.  Programs to prevent teenage pregnancy and public policies to support young mothers and families are critical to help them to achieve better educational, employment, and economic outcomes throughout their life course.  The extent that teenage mothers are able to advance in their education and achieve significant employment may depend on the availability of social resources and support that they receive in the transition to adulthood.