Abstract

PIP: This study was undertaken to test theoretically based hypotheses regarding psychosocial antecedents of unwed motherhood among indigent adolescents. These hypotheses were derived from the theory that deviant social responses result from previously acquired negative self-attitudes. Data was obtained by survey of a 50% sample of female 7th graders from an urban school system. The experimental group was made up of 82 subjects who received perinatal care at a clinic for indigent adolescents and who gave birth out of wedlock at least 1 year after the survey and before reaching age 18. One control group consisted of 164 students matched 2:1 with each unwed mother according to race, mother's education and school. A 2nd control group included 164 randomly selected students. Analysis of the data obtained permitted identification of specific self-rejecting attitudes developed among the prospective unwed mothers in the course of normative group experiences. These attitudes, together with the social positions of these subjects and the erosion of controls exerted by family and school authorities emerged as significant factors contributing to the adoption of deviant behavior patterns. These deviant patterns, including those associated with unwed motherhood, appear to be congruent with subculturally influenced values and with adaptive/defensive patterns. On the whole, results indicate that the general theory of deviant behavior that has been applied to other behaviors can be used to explain the precursors of unwed motherhood among indigent adolescents.