Like father, like son: the intergenerational cycle of adolescent fatherhood

Abstract

Objectives: Strong evidence exists to support an intergenerational cycle of adolescent fatherhood, yet such a cycle has not been studied. We examined whether paternal adolescent fatherhood (i.e., father of study participant was age 19 years or younger when his first child was born) and other factors derived from the ecological systems theory predicted participant adolescent fatherhood.

Methods: Data included 1496 young males who were interviewed annually from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. Cox regression survival analysis was used to determine the effect of paternal adolescent fatherhood on participant adolescent fatherhood.

Results: Sons of adolescent fathers were 1.8 times more likely to become adolescent fathers than were sons of older fathers, after other risk factors were accounted for. Additionally, factors from each ecological domain-individual (delinquency), family (maternal education), peer (early adolescent dating), and environment (race/ethnicity, physical risk environment)-were independent predictors of adolescent fatherhood.

Conclusions: These findings support the need for pregnancy prevention interventions specifically designed for young males who may be at high risk for continuing this cycle. Interventions that address multiple levels of risk will likely be most successful at reducing pregnancies among partners of young men.

FIGURE 1

Unadjusted Cox regression survival curves for participant's age at first child, by (a) paternal adolescent fatherhood and (b) maternal adolescent motherhood: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997–2004. Note. The model controlled for age at baseline interview. For paternal adolescent fatherhood, χ²₂ = 46.49; P < .001; for maternal adolescent motherhood, χ²₂ = 39.50; P < .001.

FIGURE 2

Adjusted model of Cox regression survival curve for participant's age at first child, by paternal adolescent fatherhood, adjusted for individual, family, peer, and environmental risk factors: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997–2004. Note. Individual, family, peer, and environmental predictors were measured at baseline; only those that were significant at P < .20 in bivariate analyses were included in multivariate analysis. The model controlled for age at baseline interview (χ²₂₀ = 183.30; P < .001).