Correlates of adolescent parenting

Abstract

A self-selected sample of 177 teenage parents participated in a study of the correlates of teenage parenting. An ecological model of the predictors of parenting behavior was used to define factors which potentially influence teenage parents' parenting skills as measured by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME). The factors tested include level of punitiveness toward child rearing, knowledge of developmental milestones, level of depression, perceived social support, parental age, and parental race. The results of a stepwise hierarchical regression analysis found that parental race, punitive attitudes toward child rearing, and parental age were statistically significant predictors of total HOME scores. The older, white adolescent mother with less punitive attitudes toward child rearing and child discipline scored the highest on parenting skills. The relevance of these findings to program planners and service providers involved in teenage parent support and education programs is discussed.

PIP: This study of correlates of teenage parenting involving 177 US teenage parents identified parental race, punitive attitudes toward child rearing, and age as significantly related to parenting behavior. An ecological model of the predictors of parenting behavior was used to define factors which potentially influence teenage parents' skills as measured by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME). The factors tested include level of punitiveness toward child rearing, knowledge of developmental milestones, level of depression, perceived social support, parental age, and parental race. The results of a stepwise hierachical regressions analysis found that punitive attitudes, parental race, and age were significant predictors of total HOME scores. The older, white adolescent parent with less punitive attitudes toward child rearing and discipline scored the highest on the parenting skills. The average total HOME score for the white teenage mothers is comparable to the standing of other groups of parents. The mean HOME score for the black parents participating is lower than that reported for other samples. The prominent role of race needs further study and may be of special interest to program planners.