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- Title
Mother's socioeconomic background may play greater role in childhood development than maternal age.
- Authors
Hollander, D.
- Abstract
This article presents information on development differences between children whose mothers first gave birth as adolescents and those whose mothers postponed childbearing. The study examined child development indicators among first cousins. Once data had been adjusted for potentially confounding factors and for family of origin, the children of teenage mothers had scores on a variety of developmental measures that were as good as or better than those of cousins born to mothers who were 20 or older at first birth. As an alternative to standard approaches, the researchers compared the children of sisters, at least one of whom first gave birth as a teenager and one of whom delayed childbearing. The investigators observe that their results offer little support for the notion that ado- lescent childbearing has independent adverse effects on child development, but point to the influence of maternal family background characteristics. The findings, they note, are consistent with those of other studies showing that disadvantaged family background, rather than teenage childbearing per se, affects women's subsequent socioeconomic status or risk of poor birth outcomes.
- Subjects
CHILD development; MOTHERS; SOCIOECONOMIC factors; CHILDREN; TEENAGERS; SOCIAL status; RESEARCH
- Publication
Family Planning Perspectives, 1995, Vol 27, Issue 3, p129
- ISSN
0014-7354
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2136113