Pregnant adolescents attending prenatal parent education classes: self-concept, anxiety and depression levels

Abstract

Past research has indicated that pregnant adolescents who attend parent education programs (PEP) are more likely to have better outcomes after delivery than those who leave school. This study compared pregnant adolescents who attended a PEP (PA), those who did not attend a PEP (PC), and nonpregnant adolescents (NP) for differences in personality characteristics--self-concept, anxiety, and depression--which might account for postdelivery outcomes. On pre- and posttests administered four to six weeks apart, the PA did not indicate any changes over time and the groups did not differ significantly in self-concept and state and trait anxiety levels. Although the PA group showed a significantly higher level of depression on the pretest than did the NP group, they did not differ significantly at posttesting. According to demographic variables, the number of persons in household was significantly higher for the NP group than for the PA and PC groups. These results, not always consistent with past research on teenagers' personality characteristics, suggest: that the groups did not differ in terms of these personality characteristics, and that for these subjects (88% black), the tendency toward higher depression and anxiety levels in adolescence may not be significantly different from that experienced during pregnancy. The drawbacks of research in this area and for this project are discussed.

PIP: Past research has indicated that pregnant adolescents who attend parent education programs (PEP) are more likely to have better outcomes after delivery than those who leave school. This study compared pregnant adolescents who attended a PEP (PA), those who did not attend a PEP (PC), and nonpregnant adolescents (NP) for differences in personality characteristics--self-concept, anxiety, and depression--which might account for postdelivery outcomes. On pre- and posttests administered 4-6 weeks apart, the PA did not indicate any changes over time and the groups did not differ significantly in self-concept and state and trait anxiety levels. Although the PA group showed a significantly higher level of depression on the pretest than did the NP group, they did not differ significantly at posttesting. According to demographic variables, the number of persons in household was significantly higher for the NP group than for the PA and PC groups. These results, not always consistent with past research on teenagers' personality characteristics, suggest: 1) that the groups did not differ in terms of these personality characteristics, and 2) that for these subjects (88% balck), the tendency toward higher depression and anxiety levels in adolescence may not be significantly different from that experienced during pregnancy. 1 of the drawbacks to this research project is that there could not be any control in the assignment of subjects to a particular group since the ethical inappropriateness of random assignment of subjects to such experimental and control groups prevents such an approach. Another drawback was that the researcher could not control the content of the prenatal education classes. An additional drawback was that the subjects in the 2 groups of pregnant teenagers were not asked why they became pregnant.