Domestic violence, single parenthood, and fathers in the setting of teenage pregnancy.

PURPOSE: To explore the relative impact of demographic and early interpersonal family relationships as associations of fatherhood where the mother is a teenager, compared to where the mother is over 20 years of age. METHOD: A prospective cross-sectional cohort study was undertaken. Institutional ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. Data were analyzed from interviews with consecutive males about to become fathers where the mother was aged less than 20 years (teenage) and compared to information from males about to become fathers where the mother was aged 20 years or more (control). Subjects were interviewed to obtain information covering their early life experiences, demographic information, drug use, opinion of the pregnancy, and future planning. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, and after controlling for family income and education, the following factors had a significant independent association with fatherhood in the setting of teenage pregnancy: a history of parental separation/divorce in early childhood, exposure to family violence in early childhood, and illicit drug use (ever or in pregnancy). CONCLUSIONS: Fathers, in the setting of teenage pregnancy, are more likely to report adverse early family relationships, such as exposure to domestic violence or parental separation or divorce. As such, these fathers may lack a positive role model for parenting and fatherhood.

Impact of demographic factors, early family relationships and depressive symptomatology in teenage pregnancy.

AIM: Teenage pregnancy has been well studied from a demographic risk perspective, but less data examining the early interpersonal family experiences of teenage mothers are available. We aimed to explore the relative impact of demographic, early interpersonal family relationships and depressive symptomatology as associations for teenage, as compared to non-teenage, childbearing. METHOD: A prospective cross-sectional cohort study was undertaken. Institutional ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. Data from consecutive teenage (teenage) and non-teenage (control) subgroups of antenatal women were compared. Subjects were interviewed and completed the following questionnaires: demographic, drug use and lifestyle; early life experiences; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); and General Health Questionnaire-28. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, the following factors had a significant independent association with younger age of motherhood in order of magnitude: a history of parental separation/divorce in early childhood; exposure to family violence in early childhood; illicit drug use (ever or in pregnancy); idealization of the pregnancy; low family income; a positive HADS-A or HADS-D subscale score; and a low level of education. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions to reduce the rate of teenage births need to be multifocal and should include strategies to address early childhood exposure to parental separation and violence, reduce idealization of pregnancy, diagnose psychological symptomatology and offer alternative career choices to children defaulting in the education system.