Citation

Beers LAS, Hollo RE. Curr. Probl. Pediatr. Adolesc. Health Care 2009; 39(9): 216-233.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.cppeds.2009.09.001

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the USA, as many as 1 in 6 women nationwide become adolescent mothers, making adolescent pregnancy and childbearing issues a frequently encountered occurrence by pediatricians and adolescent medicine health care providers. Both social and medical programs focus on prevention and management of adolescent pregnancies; however, caring for the adolescent-headed family is less well understood. For many teen parents, various environmental and behavioral risks contributed to early childbearing and parenting. Following delivery of the infant, many of these same psycho-social, environmental, and educational factors continue to play a role in the teen's ability to parent effectively. This review explores these factors in relation to teen parenting as well as describes the limited data available on outcomes of adolescent mothers and their infants. Despite negative social stereotypes regarding adolescent fathers, research suggesting that most fathers desire involvement with their infants and the impact of and factors influencing father involvement is explored. Understanding the dynamics of the coparenting relationship, an expanding field of study, will aid practitioners in strengthening and supporting teen parenting by both mothers and fathers. As most teen parents continue to reside with their families, teen parenting has an important impact on the multi-generational family structure. These relationships can serve both to support and at times to hinder the adolescent parents' development as an individual and as a parent. Successful interventions and programs to support the adolescent-headed family take on various forms but are usually comprehensive and multidisciplinary and consider the developmental status of both the parent and the child. To best care for adolescent-headed families, pediatricians and adolescent medicine providers should understand the psychosocial, developmental, educational, and relationship issues that influence adolescent parenting.

Adolescent parenting is frequently encountered by practitioners in pediatric and family medicine; however, it typically receives little attention in training programs or medical literature. Providers may be well versed on the topics of adolescent pregnancy and primary teen pregnancy prevention but less comfortable with the care of an adolescent-headed family. While teen parenting may be considered the norm in other, particularly less developed countries, in the USA it is generally considered maladaptive, both by the lay public and by professionals. However, while teen parents may have behavioral risk factors in addition to developmental and family considerations that affect care, most can be very successful, especially if given appropriate support. This review describes what is known about adolescent parents, their children, and their families, delving into newer research that suggests that outcomes may not be as dire as previously thought. Recommendations for intervention, medical care, and research are also discussed, to help the pediatric and adolescent provider integrate these findings into their clinical practice.