This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hardy, J. B.
Right arrow Articles by Hilton, S. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hardy, J. B.
Right arrow Articles by Hilton, S. C.
Related Collections
Right arrow Miscellaneous

PEDIATRICS Vol. 100 No. 5 November 1997, pp. 802-809

Adolescent Childbearing Revisited: The Age of Inner-city Mothers at Delivery Is a Determinant of Their Children's Self-sufficiency at Age 27 to 33

Received Dec 16, 1996; accepted Apr 8, 1997.

Janet B. Hardy*, Sam ShapiroDagger , Nan M. Astone§, Therese L. Miller§, Jeanne Brooks-Gunnparallel , and Sterling C. Hilton

From the * Department of Pediatrics, The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, and the Departments of Dagger  Health Policy and Management and § Population Dynamics, The Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; the parallel  Center for the Study of Young Children and Families, Teacher's College, Columbia University, New York, New York; and the  Department of Statistics, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Objectives.  Data from recent interviews with 1758 inner-city children, born between 1960 to 1965 and followed with their mothers in the Pathways to Adulthood Study to age 27 to 33 years, were used to address two related questions. 1) Is maternal age, across the reproductive age range, a determinant of child's adult outcome? and 2) Do covariates of maternal age at delivery reduce or eliminate the effect of maternal age on child's adult outcome?

Methods.  An intergenerational life course model of development identified significant maternal and child characteristics at birth associated with the child's self-sufficient outcomes in adulthood: education (more than or equal to a high school diploma); financial independence of public support; and delay of first birth until age 20 or older. Bivariate and multiple logistic regression techniques were used to identify independent relationships between dependent and independent variables and to adjust the outcomes to compensate for the effect of possible confounding of maternal age at delivery by maternal education, parity, poverty status, and the child's race and gender.

Results.  Each covariate was independently associated with maternal age at delivery. Adjustment for their effects reduced, but did not eliminate, the association between maternal age at birth and the child's outcome at age 27 to 33 years. As a group, children of the oldest mothers (>= 25 years of age) had the most favorable outcomes, and those of teenage mothers (<20 years of age) had the least favorable outcomes; 22% of daughters and 6% of sons of the oldest mothers versus 38% and 18%, respectively, of the youngest mothers became teenage parents.

Conclusion.  The mother's age at delivery is an independent determinant of the child's adult status.

Key words: 30-year longitudinal follow-up of mothers and children, maternal age at delivery, covariates of maternal age, child outcome at 27 to 33 years, child's education, child independent of public support, delay of first birth, teenage birth.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF LIFESTYLE MEDICINEHome page
D. F. Schwarz and A. L. O'Sullivan
State of the Art Reviews: Intervening to Improve Outcomes for Adolescent Mothers and Their Children
American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, December 1, 2007; 1(6): 482 - 489.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 PediatricsHome page
L. Eisenberg
Experience, Brain, and Behavior: The Importance of a Head Start
Pediatrics, May 1, 1999; 103(5): 1031 - 1035.
[Abstract] [Full Text]

Home page
 Evid. Based Nurs.Home page
D. Sheehan
Higher maternal age at birth was associated with increased self sufficiency of children at age 27 to 33 years
Evid. Based Nurs., October 1, 1998; 1(4): 123 - 123.
[Full Text]