Should Teens Have Babies Research Paper
BRENDA’S GOT A BABY
Essay #1 (500 words) Should teens have babies? Do you think teens are mature enough to raise a child? What is the best environment for a child? Are two parents better than one? Are mature parents better than teens? What impact does environment have on a child? Include evidence from your readings to support your opinions.
Essay #2 (200 words) Does teaching abstinence work? Is it better to educate teenagers on how to have sex safely or teach them not to have sex at all? What are the pros and cons for each approach?
Essay #3 (200 words) What effect does sexual content on television have upon teens? Does it cause teens to engage in more sex? Does it have some effect or no effect? If it does have an effect, what …show more content…
kind of effect does it have?
CONTENT
“The Children of Teen Parents” FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy “Study Casts Doubt on Abstinence-Only Programs” The Washington Post “Brenda’s Got a Baby.” Tupac
“Juno Comes to Life” NPR “How my mother’s politics tore us apart.” Tessa Cunningham.
JUNO The Film
The Children of Teen Parents
FACT SHEET
FSU Center for
Prevention & Early
Intervention Policy
Poverty, inadequate social support, mothers’ lack of education, mothers’ cognitive immaturity, and greater maternal stress have all been suggested as possible factors contributing to poor social and educational outcomes for the children of teen mothers. *
REFERENCES RESEARCH
Moore, K.A., Morrison, D.R., &
Greene, A.D. (1997). Effects on the children born to adolescent mothers. In
R. Maynard (Ed.), Kids having kids
(pp.145-180). Washington, DC: The
Urban Institute Press.
The children of adolescents are more likely to be born prematurely and 50% more likely to be low-birth weight babies (less than five and a half pounds) when compared to the children of mothers whose age was 20 or 21 when they had their first child.
Brooks-Gunn, J., & Furstenberg, F.F.
(1986). The children of adolescent mothers: Physical, academic and psychological outcomes.
Developmental Review 6, 224-251.
Teenagers often receive less adequate prenatal care – and receive it later – when special programs are not provided for them. When early, frequent, and quality obstetrical care is available, no increased risk is found in terms of the health of infants born to teenage mothers.
The exception may be very young mothers, under 15 years of age.
Whitman, T.L., Borkowski, J.G.,
Schellenbach, C.J., & Nath, P.S. (1997).
Predicting and understanding developmental delay of children of adolescent mothers: A multidimensional approach. American Journal of Mental
Deficiency, 92(1), 40-56.
Although developmental delay is not an inevitable consequence for infants of adolescent mothers, data suggests that this special class of children, when compared to children born to adult mothers, is at greater risk for a variety of developmental problems.
Wolfe, B., & Peroze, M. (1997). Teen children’s health care and health use. In
R. Maynard (Ed.), Kids having kids
(pp.181-204). Washington, DC: The
Urban Institute Press.
As they grow, the children of adolescent mothers tend to suffer poorer health than do the children of women who were age 20 or 21 when their first child was born. According to parents’ reports of their children’s health status,
60% of children born to non-teen mothers were rated in “excellent” health, compared to 38% for children born to the youngest adolescent …show more content…
mothers.
George, R. M., & Lee, B.J. (1997).
Abuse and neglect of the children. In R.
Maynard (Ed.), Kids having kids (pp.
205-230). Washington, DC: The Urban
Institute Press.
The children born to the youngest teen mothers are at greater risk of being an
“indicated case” of child abuse or neglect (and being placed in foster care) than are those born to older mothers. Children born to mothers age 15 and younger are two times more likely to become an indicated case of child abuse/neglect in the first five years of their lives than are the children born to mothers ages 20-21.
Flanagan, P., Coll, C., Andreozzi, L., &
Riggs, S. (1995). Predicting maltreatment of children of teen mothers. Pediatrics & Adolescent
Medicine, 149, 451-455.
One study found that the living situation of the teen mother was the single most predictive variable in terms of maltreatment. Adolescent mothers living with a related adult were much less likely to abuse or neglect their children than were those living apart from related adults.
The Children of Teen Parents Page 2
REFERENCES RESEARCH
Zahn-Waxler C., Kochanska, G.
Krupnik, J., & McKnew, D. (1990).
Patterns of guilt in children of depressed and well mothers. Developmental
Psychology, 26, 51-59.
The children of adolescent mothers are at higher risk for problems in affect regulation, including both flattened affect and aggressive behavior.
Moore, K.A., Morrison, D.R., & Greene,
A.D. (1997). Effects on the children born to adolescent mothers. In R.
Maynard (Ed.), Kids having kids
(pp.145-180). Washington, DC: The
Urban Institute Press.
The negative effects on the cognitive development of children born to adolescent mothers are evident. A study of children ages four to 14 showed that those born to the youngest teen mothers performed more poorly on tests of cognitive ability, were more likely to be retained a grade, and were less likely to be perceived by their teachers as performing favorably by the time they reached high school.
Haveman, R, Wolfe, B., & Peterson, E.
(1997). Children of early child bearers as young adults. In R. Maynard (Ed.),
Kids having kids (pp.257-284).
Washington, DC.: The Urban Institute
Press.
Children of adolescent mothers are more likely to drop out of high school when compared to the children of mothers age 20-21. Only 77% of children born to adolescent mothers complete high school by early adulthood compared to 89% of the comparison group.
Grogger, J. (1997). Incarceration-related costs of early child bearing. In R.
Maynard (Ed.), Kids having kids (pp.
232-255). Washington, DC: The Urban
Institute Press.
One researcher looked at the incarceration rates of the sons of young mothers. His findings revealed that 10.3% of those born to mothers age 17 and younger were incarcerated, compared to 3.8% of the sons born to older mothers. That is, the sons of young teen mothers are nearly three times more likely to be incarcerated than those born to adult mothers.
Furstenberg, F.F., Levine, J.A., Brooks-
Gunn, J. (1990). The children of teenage mothers: Patterns of early child bearing in two generations. Family Planning
Perspectives, 22(2), 54-61.
When compared to women born to mothers aged 20-21, the daughters of adolescent mothers are significantly more likely to give birth themselves before the age of 18. An analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of
Youth data demonstrated that early childbearing is much more common among the daughters of adolescent mothers. In addition, daughters of adolescent mothers are more susceptible than their mothers to economic dependence and less likely to escape poverty.
Haveman, R., Wolfe, B., & Peterson, E.
(1997). Children of early child bearers as young adults. In R. Maynard (Ed.),
Kids having kids (pp.257-284).
Washington, DC: The Urban Institute
Press.
Children born to teen mothers often do not have an even start in life. They are more likely to grow up in a poor and mother-only family, to live in a poor or underclass neighborhood, and to experience high risks to both their health status and potential school achievement.
*Flanagan, P. Adolescent pregnancy and childbearing: Epidemiology and psychosocial characteristics. Unpublished manuscript,
Brown University, Providence, RI.
Teen Parent Child Care Quality Improvement Project – www.cpeip.fsu.edu
04/15/05 © 2005 Florida State University Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy
Brenda’s Got a Baby
By Tupac
Brenda 's got a Baby
Brenda 's got a Baby
I hear Brenda 's got a baby
But Brenda 's barely got a brain
A damn shame
The girl can hardly spell her name
(That 's not her problem, that 's up ta Brenda 's family)
Well let me show ya how it affects tha whole community
Now Brenda really never knew her moms and her dad was a junky Went in debt to his arms, it 's sad
Cause I bet Brenda doesn 't even know
Just cause your in tha ghetto doesn 't mean ya can 't grow
But oh, that 's a thought, my own revelation
Do whatever it takes ta resist the temptation
Brenda got herself a boyfriend
Her boyfriend was a cousin, now lets watch tha joy end
She tried to hide her pregnancy, from her family
Who really didn 't care to see, or give a damn if she
Went out and had a church of kids
As long as when tha check came they got first dibs
Now Brendas belly is gettin bigger
But no one seems ta notice any change in her figure
She 's 12 years old and she 's having a baby
In love with tha molester, whos sexin ' her crazy
And yet she thinks that he 'll be with her forever
And dreams of a world with tha two of them together, whatever He left her and she had tha baby solo, she had it on tha bathroom floor
And didn 't know so, she didn 't know, what ta throw away and what ta keep
She wrapped tha baby up and threw him in tha trash heep
I guess she thought she 'd get away
Wouldn 't hear tha cries
She didn 't realize
How much tha little baby had her eyes
Now tha babys in tha trash heep ballin '
Momma can 't help him, but it hurts ta hear him callin '
Brenda wants ta run away
Momma say, you makin ' me lose pay, tha social workers here everyday Now Brenda 's gotta make her own way
Can 't go to her family, they won 't let her stay
No money no babysitter, she couldn 't keep a job
She tried ta sell crack, but ended up getting robbed
So now what 's next, there ain 't nothin left ta sell
So she sees sex as a way of leavin hell
It 's payin tha rent, so she really can 't complain
Prostitute found slain, and Brenda 's her name, she 's got a baby
Baaaaaaaaby
(don 't you know she 's got a baby)
(don 't you know she 's got a baby)
(don 't you know she 's got a baby)
(don 't you know she 's got a baby)
In Cluster of Teen Pregnancies, 'Juno ' Comes to Life
[pic]Ready to blame Hollywood?
[pic]
The hit film Juno portrayed teen pregnancy from several angles, including the comical. Fox Searchlight Pictures
The Bryant Park Project, June 26, 2008 · After 17 students in one Massachusetts school turned up pregnant this year, Time magazine called it the "Juno Effect." The term referenced the hit comedy Juno, about a high school girl who 's unexpectedly expecting. By depicting the sunny, even redemptive side of Juno 's plight, the magazine argued, Hollywood had perhaps made motherhood attractive for teens.
It 's the kind of conclusion that sometimes draws criticism for being hasty. But Jane Brown, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says the Juno effect is real.
Brown runs the Teen Media Project, which recently completed a study into the images seen by girls between the ages of 12 and 14. The research showed that kids who had "heavier sexual media diets" became more than twice as likely to become sexually active by the age of 16.
Part of that stems from teens ' natural curiousity about sex. Kids who are more interested in it seek information from a variety of sources, Brown says, including movies like Juno. "In the context of parents still not comfortable talking with their children about sex, with schools talking only about abstinence until marriage and with religion saying it 's still a sin, the media have become very powerful sex educators," she argues.
Brown says teen pregnancy rates had been falling, but she worries that the numbers are again on the rise. She says the generation of girls raised in abstinence-only education programs may not know as much about contraception as kids used to know. Meanwhile, images of unwed mothers have gone mainstream.
"This is unusual and rare that we would have movies like Juno or Knocked Up, or that we would now be glamorizing celebrities who are pregnant and we don 't even know who the fathers are. ... For [girls], looking to see who 's got a baby bump is really compelling somehow," Brown says.
|How my mother 's politics tore us apart |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |
|Written by Tessa Cunningham |
|She 's revered as a trail-blazing feminist and author Alice Walker touched the lives of a generation of women. A champion of women 's |
|rights, she has always argued that motherhood is a form of servitude. But one woman didn 't buy in to Alice 's beliefs - her |
|daughter, Rebecca, 38. Here the writer describes what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a cultural icon, and why she feels |
|so blessed to be the sort of woman 64-year-old Alice despises - a mother. |
| |
|[pic] |
| {This is an article that fits well with StandUpGirl 's collection of stories. It was published online by the Daily Mail of London, |
|England. - Editor} |
|[pic] |
| |
|The other day I was vacuuming when my son came bounding into the room. 'Mummy, Mummy, let me help, ' he cried. His little hands were |
|grabbing me around the knees and his huge brown eyes were looking up at me. I was overwhelmed by a huge surge of happiness. |
| |
|I love the way his head nestles in the crook of my neck. I love the way his face falls into a mask of eager concentration when I help|
|him learn the alphabet. But most of all, I simply love hearing his little voice calling: 'Mummy, Mummy. ' |
| |
|It reminds me of just how blessed I am. The truth is that I very nearly missed out on becoming a mother - thanks to being brought |
|up by a rabid feminist who thought motherhood was about the worst thing that could happen to a woman. |
| |
|You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. I grew up believing that children are millstones around your neck, and the |
|idea that motherhood can make you blissfully happy is a complete fairytale. |
| |
|In fact, having a child has been the most rewarding experience of my life. Far from 'enslaving ' me, three-and-a-half-year-old Tenzin |
|has opened my world. My only regret is that I discovered the joys of motherhood so late - I have been trying for a second child for|
|two years, but so far with no luck. |
| |
|I was raised to believe that women need men like a fish needs a bicycle. But I strongly feel children need two parents and the |
|thought of raising Tenzin without my partner, Glen, 52, would be terrifying. |
| |
|As the child of divorced parents, I know only too well the painful consequences of being brought up in those circumstances. Feminism |
|has much to answer for denigrating men and encouraging women to seek independence whatever the cost to their families. |
| |
|My mother 's feminist principles coloured every aspect of my life.
As a little girl, I wasn 't even allowed to play with dolls or |
|stuffed toys in case they brought out a maternal instinct. It was drummed into me that being a mother, raising children and running a|
|home were a form of slavery. Having a career, travelling the world and being independent were what really mattered according to her. |
| |
|I love my mother very much, but I haven 't seen her or spoken to her since I became pregnant. She has never seen my son - her only |
|grandchild. My crime? Daring to question her ideology. |
| |
|Well, so be it. My mother may be revered by women around the world - goodness knows, many even have shrines to her. But I honestly |
|believe it 's time to puncture the myth and to reveal what life was really like to grow up as a child of the feminist revolution.
|
| |
|My parents met and fell in love in Mississippi during the civil rights movement. Dad [Mel Leventhal], was the brilliant lawyer son of|
|a Jewish family who had fled the Holocaust. Mum was the impoverished eighth child of sharecroppers from Georgia. When they married in|
|1967, inter-racial weddings were still illegal in some states. |
| |
|My early childhood was very happy although my parents were terribly busy, encouraging me to grow up fast. I was only one when I was |
|sent off to nursery school. I 'm told they even made me walk down the street to the school. |
| |
|Alice Walker believed so strongly that children enslaved their mothers she disowned her own daughter |
| |
|When I was eight, my parents divorced. From then on I was shuttled between two worlds - my father 's very conservative, traditional,|
|wealthy, white suburban community in New York, and my mother 's avant garde multi-racial community in California. I spent two years |
|with each parent - a bizarre way of doing things. |
| |
|Ironically, my mother regards herself as a hugely maternal woman. Believing that women are suppressed, she has campaigned for their |
|rights around the world and set up organisations to aid women abandoned in Africa - offering herself up as a mother figure. |
| |
|But, while she has taken care of daughters all over the world and is hugely revered for her public work and service, my childhood |
|tells a very different story. I came very low down in her priorities - after work, political integrity, self-fulfilment, |
|friendships, spiritual life, fame and travel. |
| |
|My mother would always do what she wanted - for example taking off to Greece for two months in the summer, leaving me with |
|relatives when I was a teenager. Is that independent, or just plain selfish? |
| |
|I was 16 when I found a now-famous poem she wrote comparing me to various calamities that struck and impeded the lives of other women|
|writers. Virginia Woolf was mentally ill and the Brontes died prematurely. My mother had me - a 'delightful distraction ', but a |
|calamity nevertheless. I found that a huge shock and very upsetting. |
| |
|According to the strident feminist ideology of the Seventies, women were sisters first, and my mother chose to see me as a sister |
|rather than a daughter. From the age of 13, I spent days at a time alone while my mother retreated to her writing studio - some 100|
|miles away. I was left with money to buy my own meals and lived on a diet of fast food. |
| |
|A neighbour, not much older than me, was deputised to look after me. I never complained. I saw it as my job to protect my mother and |
|never distract her from her writing. It never crossed my mind to say that I needed some time and attention from her. |
| |
|When I was beaten up at school - accused of being a snob because I had lighter skin than my black classmates - I always told my |
|mother that everything was fine, that I had won the fight. I didn 't want to worry her. |
| |
|But the truth was I was very lonely and, with my mother 's knowledge, started having sex at 13. I guess it was a relief for my mother |
|as it meant I was less demanding. And she felt that being sexually active was empowering for me because it meant I was in control of |
|my body. |
| |
|Now I simply cannot understand how she could have been so permissive. I barely want my son to leave the house on a play-date, let |
|alone start sleeping around while barely out of junior school. |
| |
|A good mother is attentive, sets boundaries and makes the world safe for her child. But my mother did none of those things. |
| |
|Although I was on the Pill - something I had arranged at 13, visiting the doctor with my best friend - I fell pregnant at 14. I |
|organised an abortion myself. Now I shudder at the memory. I was only a little girl. I don 't remember my mother being shocked or |
|upset. She tried to be supportive, accompanying me with her boyfriend. |
|...the aftermath haunted me for decades. It ate away at my self-confidence and, until I had Tenzin, I was terrified that I 'd never be|
|able to have a baby because of what I had done to the child I had destroyed. For feminists to say that abortion carries no |
|consequences is simply wrong. |
| |
|As a child, I was terribly confused, because while I was being fed a strong feminist message, I actually yearned for a traditional |
|mother. My father 's second wife, Judy, was a loving, maternal homemaker with five children she doted on. |
| |
|There was always food in the fridge and she did all the things my mother didn 't, such as attending their school events, taking |
|endless photos and telling her children at every opportunity how wonderful they were. |
| |
|My mother was the polar opposite. She never came to a single school event, she didn 't buy me any clothes, she didn 't even help me buy|
|my first bra - a friend was paid to go shopping with me. If I needed help with homework I asked my boyfriend 's mother. |
| |
|Moving between the two homes was terrible. At my father 's home I felt much more taken care of. But, if I told my mother that I 'd had |
|a good time with Judy, she 'd look bereft - making me feel I was choosing this white, privileged woman above her. I was made to feel|
|that I had to choose one set of ideals above the other. |
| |
|When I hit my 20s and first felt a longing to be a mother, I was totally confused. I could feel my biological clock ticking, but I |
|felt if I listened to it, I would be betraying my mother and all she had taught me. |
| |
|I tried to push it to the back of my mind, but over the next ten years the longing became more intense, and when I met Glen, a |
|teacher, at a seminar five years ago, I knew I had found the man I wanted to have a baby with. Gentle, kind and hugely supportive, he|
|is, as I knew he would be, the most wonderful father. |
| |
|Although I knew what my mother felt about babies, I still hoped that when I told her I was pregnant, she would be excited for me. |
| |
|Instead, when I called her one morning in the spring of 2004, while I was at one of her homes housesitting, and told her my news and |
|that I 'd never been happier, she went very quiet. All she could say was that she was shocked. Then she asked if I could check on her |
|garden. I put the phone down and sobbed - she had deliberately withheld her approval with the intention of hurting me. What loving |
|mother would do that? |
| |
|Worse was to follow. My mother took umbrage at an interview in which I 'd mentioned that my parents didn 't protect or look out for me.|
|She sent me an e-mail, threatening to undermine my reputation as a writer. I couldn 't believe she could be so hurtful - |
|particularly when I was pregnant. |
| |
|Devastated, I asked her to apologise and acknowledge how much she 'd hurt me over the years with neglect, withholding affection and |
|resenting me for things I had no control over - the fact that I am mixed-race, that I have a wealthy, white, professional father |
|and that I was born at all. |
| |
|But she wouldn 't back down. Instead, she wrote me a letter saying that our relationship had been inconsequential for years and that |
|she was no longer interested in being my mother. She even signed the letter with her first name, rather than 'Mom '. |
| |
|That was a month before Tenzin 's birth in December 2004, and I have had no contact with my mother since. She didn 't even get in touch|
|when he was rushed into the special care baby unit after he was born suffering breathing difficulties. |
| |
|And I have since heard that my mother has cut me out of her will in favour of one of my cousins. I feel terribly sad - my mother is|
|missing such a great opportunity to be close to her family. But I 'm also relieved. Unlike most mothers, mine has never taken any |
|pride in my achievements. She has always had a strange competitiveness that led her to undermine me at almost every turn. |
| |
|When I got into Yale - a huge achievement - she asked why on earth I wanted to be educated at such a male bastion. Whenever I |
|published anything, she wanted to write her version - trying to eclipse mine. When I wrote my memoir, Black, White And Jewish, my |
|mother insisted on publishing her version. She finds it impossible to step out of the limelight, which is extremely ironic in light |
|of her view that all women are sisters and should support one another. |
| |
|It 's been almost four years since I have had any contact with my mother, but it 's for the best - not only for my self-protection |
|but for my son 's well-being. I 've done all I can to be a loyal, loving daughter, but I can no longer have this poisonous relationship|
|destroy my life. |
| |
|I know many women are shocked by my views. They expect the daughter of Alice Walker to deliver a very different message. Yes, |
|feminism has undoubtedly given women opportunities. It 's helped open the doors for us at schools, universities and in the workplace. |
|But what about the problems it 's caused for my contemporaries? |
| |
|What about the children? |
| |
|The ease with which people can get divorced these days doesn 't take into account the toll on children. That 's all part of the |
|unfinished business of feminism. |
| |
|Then there is the issue of not having children. Even now, I meet women in their 30s who are ambivalent about having a family. They |
|say things like: 'I 'd like a child. If it happens, it happens. ' I tell them: 'Go home and get on with it because your window of |
|opportunity is very small. ' As I know only too well. |
| |
|Then I meet women in their 40s who are devastated because they spent two decades working on a PhD or becoming a partner in a law |
|firm, and they missed out on having a family. Thanks to the feminist movement, they discounted their biological clocks. They 've |
|missed the opportunity and they 're bereft. |
| |
|Feminism has betrayed an entire generation of women into childlessness. It is devastating. |
| |
|But far from taking responsibility for any of this, the leaders of the women 's movement close ranks against anyone who dares to |
|question them - as I have learned to my cost. I don 't want to hurt my mother, but I cannot stay silent. I believe feminism is an |
|experiment, and all experiments need to be assessed on their results. Then, when you see huge mistakes have been paid, you need to |
|make alterations. |
| |
|I hope that my mother and I will be reconciled one day. Tenzin deserves to have a grandmother. But I am just so relieved that my |
|viewpoint is no longer so utterly coloured by my mother 's. |
| |
|I am my own woman and I have discovered what really matters - a happy family. |
| |
|Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After A Lifetime Of Ambivalence by Rebecca Walker was published by Souvenir Press on May 8, £15. |
| |
|Interview by Tessa Cunningham |
“Study Casts Doubt on Abstinence-Only Programs”
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301003.html
Essay #1 (500 words) Should teens have babies? Do you think teens are mature enough to raise a child? What is the best environment for a child? Are two parents better than one? Are mature parents better than teens? What impact does environment have on a child? Include evidence from your readings to support your opinions.
Essay #2 (200 words) Does teaching abstinence work? Is it better to educate teenagers on how to have sex safely or teach them not to have sex at all? What are the pros and cons for each approach?
Essay #3 (200 words) What effect does sexual content on television have upon teens? Does it cause teens to engage in more sex? Does it have some effect or no effect? If it does have an effect, what …show more content…
kind of effect does it have?
CONTENT
“The Children of Teen Parents” FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy “Study Casts Doubt on Abstinence-Only Programs” The Washington Post “Brenda’s Got a Baby.” Tupac
“Juno Comes to Life” NPR “How my mother’s politics tore us apart.” Tessa Cunningham.
JUNO The Film
The Children of Teen Parents
FACT SHEET
FSU Center for
Prevention & Early
Intervention Policy
Poverty, inadequate social support, mothers’ lack of education, mothers’ cognitive immaturity, and greater maternal stress have all been suggested as possible factors contributing to poor social and educational outcomes for the children of teen mothers. *
REFERENCES RESEARCH
Moore, K.A., Morrison, D.R., &
Greene, A.D. (1997). Effects on the children born to adolescent mothers. In
R. Maynard (Ed.), Kids having kids
(pp.145-180). Washington, DC: The
Urban Institute Press.
The children of adolescents are more likely to be born prematurely and 50% more likely to be low-birth weight babies (less than five and a half pounds) when compared to the children of mothers whose age was 20 or 21 when they had their first child.
Brooks-Gunn, J., & Furstenberg, F.F.
(1986). The children of adolescent mothers: Physical, academic and psychological outcomes.
Developmental Review 6, 224-251.
Teenagers often receive less adequate prenatal care – and receive it later – when special programs are not provided for them. When early, frequent, and quality obstetrical care is available, no increased risk is found in terms of the health of infants born to teenage mothers.
The exception may be very young mothers, under 15 years of age.
Whitman, T.L., Borkowski, J.G.,
Schellenbach, C.J., & Nath, P.S. (1997).
Predicting and understanding developmental delay of children of adolescent mothers: A multidimensional approach. American Journal of Mental
Deficiency, 92(1), 40-56.
Although developmental delay is not an inevitable consequence for infants of adolescent mothers, data suggests that this special class of children, when compared to children born to adult mothers, is at greater risk for a variety of developmental problems.
Wolfe, B., & Peroze, M. (1997). Teen children’s health care and health use. In
R. Maynard (Ed.), Kids having kids
(pp.181-204). Washington, DC: The
Urban Institute Press.
As they grow, the children of adolescent mothers tend to suffer poorer health than do the children of women who were age 20 or 21 when their first child was born. According to parents’ reports of their children’s health status,
60% of children born to non-teen mothers were rated in “excellent” health, compared to 38% for children born to the youngest adolescent …show more content…
mothers.
George, R. M., & Lee, B.J. (1997).
Abuse and neglect of the children. In R.
Maynard (Ed.), Kids having kids (pp.
205-230). Washington, DC: The Urban
Institute Press.
The children born to the youngest teen mothers are at greater risk of being an
“indicated case” of child abuse or neglect (and being placed in foster care) than are those born to older mothers. Children born to mothers age 15 and younger are two times more likely to become an indicated case of child abuse/neglect in the first five years of their lives than are the children born to mothers ages 20-21.
Flanagan, P., Coll, C., Andreozzi, L., &
Riggs, S. (1995). Predicting maltreatment of children of teen mothers. Pediatrics & Adolescent
Medicine, 149, 451-455.
One study found that the living situation of the teen mother was the single most predictive variable in terms of maltreatment. Adolescent mothers living with a related adult were much less likely to abuse or neglect their children than were those living apart from related adults.
The Children of Teen Parents Page 2
REFERENCES RESEARCH
Zahn-Waxler C., Kochanska, G.
Krupnik, J., & McKnew, D. (1990).
Patterns of guilt in children of depressed and well mothers. Developmental
Psychology, 26, 51-59.
The children of adolescent mothers are at higher risk for problems in affect regulation, including both flattened affect and aggressive behavior.
Moore, K.A., Morrison, D.R., & Greene,
A.D. (1997). Effects on the children born to adolescent mothers. In R.
Maynard (Ed.), Kids having kids
(pp.145-180). Washington, DC: The
Urban Institute Press.
The negative effects on the cognitive development of children born to adolescent mothers are evident. A study of children ages four to 14 showed that those born to the youngest teen mothers performed more poorly on tests of cognitive ability, were more likely to be retained a grade, and were less likely to be perceived by their teachers as performing favorably by the time they reached high school.
Haveman, R, Wolfe, B., & Peterson, E.
(1997). Children of early child bearers as young adults. In R. Maynard (Ed.),
Kids having kids (pp.257-284).
Washington, DC.: The Urban Institute
Press.
Children of adolescent mothers are more likely to drop out of high school when compared to the children of mothers age 20-21. Only 77% of children born to adolescent mothers complete high school by early adulthood compared to 89% of the comparison group.
Grogger, J. (1997). Incarceration-related costs of early child bearing. In R.
Maynard (Ed.), Kids having kids (pp.
232-255). Washington, DC: The Urban
Institute Press.
One researcher looked at the incarceration rates of the sons of young mothers. His findings revealed that 10.3% of those born to mothers age 17 and younger were incarcerated, compared to 3.8% of the sons born to older mothers. That is, the sons of young teen mothers are nearly three times more likely to be incarcerated than those born to adult mothers.
Furstenberg, F.F., Levine, J.A., Brooks-
Gunn, J. (1990). The children of teenage mothers: Patterns of early child bearing in two generations. Family Planning
Perspectives, 22(2), 54-61.
When compared to women born to mothers aged 20-21, the daughters of adolescent mothers are significantly more likely to give birth themselves before the age of 18. An analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of
Youth data demonstrated that early childbearing is much more common among the daughters of adolescent mothers. In addition, daughters of adolescent mothers are more susceptible than their mothers to economic dependence and less likely to escape poverty.
Haveman, R., Wolfe, B., & Peterson, E.
(1997). Children of early child bearers as young adults. In R. Maynard (Ed.),
Kids having kids (pp.257-284).
Washington, DC: The Urban Institute
Press.
Children born to teen mothers often do not have an even start in life. They are more likely to grow up in a poor and mother-only family, to live in a poor or underclass neighborhood, and to experience high risks to both their health status and potential school achievement.
*Flanagan, P. Adolescent pregnancy and childbearing: Epidemiology and psychosocial characteristics. Unpublished manuscript,
Brown University, Providence, RI.
Teen Parent Child Care Quality Improvement Project – www.cpeip.fsu.edu
04/15/05 © 2005 Florida State University Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy
Brenda’s Got a Baby
By Tupac
Brenda 's got a Baby
Brenda 's got a Baby
I hear Brenda 's got a baby
But Brenda 's barely got a brain
A damn shame
The girl can hardly spell her name
(That 's not her problem, that 's up ta Brenda 's family)
Well let me show ya how it affects tha whole community
Now Brenda really never knew her moms and her dad was a junky Went in debt to his arms, it 's sad
Cause I bet Brenda doesn 't even know
Just cause your in tha ghetto doesn 't mean ya can 't grow
But oh, that 's a thought, my own revelation
Do whatever it takes ta resist the temptation
Brenda got herself a boyfriend
Her boyfriend was a cousin, now lets watch tha joy end
She tried to hide her pregnancy, from her family
Who really didn 't care to see, or give a damn if she
Went out and had a church of kids
As long as when tha check came they got first dibs
Now Brendas belly is gettin bigger
But no one seems ta notice any change in her figure
She 's 12 years old and she 's having a baby
In love with tha molester, whos sexin ' her crazy
And yet she thinks that he 'll be with her forever
And dreams of a world with tha two of them together, whatever He left her and she had tha baby solo, she had it on tha bathroom floor
And didn 't know so, she didn 't know, what ta throw away and what ta keep
She wrapped tha baby up and threw him in tha trash heep
I guess she thought she 'd get away
Wouldn 't hear tha cries
She didn 't realize
How much tha little baby had her eyes
Now tha babys in tha trash heep ballin '
Momma can 't help him, but it hurts ta hear him callin '
Brenda wants ta run away
Momma say, you makin ' me lose pay, tha social workers here everyday Now Brenda 's gotta make her own way
Can 't go to her family, they won 't let her stay
No money no babysitter, she couldn 't keep a job
She tried ta sell crack, but ended up getting robbed
So now what 's next, there ain 't nothin left ta sell
So she sees sex as a way of leavin hell
It 's payin tha rent, so she really can 't complain
Prostitute found slain, and Brenda 's her name, she 's got a baby
Baaaaaaaaby
(don 't you know she 's got a baby)
(don 't you know she 's got a baby)
(don 't you know she 's got a baby)
(don 't you know she 's got a baby)
In Cluster of Teen Pregnancies, 'Juno ' Comes to Life
[pic]Ready to blame Hollywood?
[pic]
The hit film Juno portrayed teen pregnancy from several angles, including the comical. Fox Searchlight Pictures
The Bryant Park Project, June 26, 2008 · After 17 students in one Massachusetts school turned up pregnant this year, Time magazine called it the "Juno Effect." The term referenced the hit comedy Juno, about a high school girl who 's unexpectedly expecting. By depicting the sunny, even redemptive side of Juno 's plight, the magazine argued, Hollywood had perhaps made motherhood attractive for teens.
It 's the kind of conclusion that sometimes draws criticism for being hasty. But Jane Brown, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says the Juno effect is real.
Brown runs the Teen Media Project, which recently completed a study into the images seen by girls between the ages of 12 and 14. The research showed that kids who had "heavier sexual media diets" became more than twice as likely to become sexually active by the age of 16.
Part of that stems from teens ' natural curiousity about sex. Kids who are more interested in it seek information from a variety of sources, Brown says, including movies like Juno. "In the context of parents still not comfortable talking with their children about sex, with schools talking only about abstinence until marriage and with religion saying it 's still a sin, the media have become very powerful sex educators," she argues.
Brown says teen pregnancy rates had been falling, but she worries that the numbers are again on the rise. She says the generation of girls raised in abstinence-only education programs may not know as much about contraception as kids used to know. Meanwhile, images of unwed mothers have gone mainstream.
"This is unusual and rare that we would have movies like Juno or Knocked Up, or that we would now be glamorizing celebrities who are pregnant and we don 't even know who the fathers are. ... For [girls], looking to see who 's got a baby bump is really compelling somehow," Brown says.
|How my mother 's politics tore us apart |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |
|Written by Tessa Cunningham |
|She 's revered as a trail-blazing feminist and author Alice Walker touched the lives of a generation of women. A champion of women 's |
|rights, she has always argued that motherhood is a form of servitude. But one woman didn 't buy in to Alice 's beliefs - her |
|daughter, Rebecca, 38. Here the writer describes what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a cultural icon, and why she feels |
|so blessed to be the sort of woman 64-year-old Alice despises - a mother. |
| |
|[pic] |
| {This is an article that fits well with StandUpGirl 's collection of stories. It was published online by the Daily Mail of London, |
|England. - Editor} |
|[pic] |
| |
|The other day I was vacuuming when my son came bounding into the room. 'Mummy, Mummy, let me help, ' he cried. His little hands were |
|grabbing me around the knees and his huge brown eyes were looking up at me. I was overwhelmed by a huge surge of happiness. |
| |
|I love the way his head nestles in the crook of my neck. I love the way his face falls into a mask of eager concentration when I help|
|him learn the alphabet. But most of all, I simply love hearing his little voice calling: 'Mummy, Mummy. ' |
| |
|It reminds me of just how blessed I am. The truth is that I very nearly missed out on becoming a mother - thanks to being brought |
|up by a rabid feminist who thought motherhood was about the worst thing that could happen to a woman. |
| |
|You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. I grew up believing that children are millstones around your neck, and the |
|idea that motherhood can make you blissfully happy is a complete fairytale. |
| |
|In fact, having a child has been the most rewarding experience of my life. Far from 'enslaving ' me, three-and-a-half-year-old Tenzin |
|has opened my world. My only regret is that I discovered the joys of motherhood so late - I have been trying for a second child for|
|two years, but so far with no luck. |
| |
|I was raised to believe that women need men like a fish needs a bicycle. But I strongly feel children need two parents and the |
|thought of raising Tenzin without my partner, Glen, 52, would be terrifying. |
| |
|As the child of divorced parents, I know only too well the painful consequences of being brought up in those circumstances. Feminism |
|has much to answer for denigrating men and encouraging women to seek independence whatever the cost to their families. |
| |
|My mother 's feminist principles coloured every aspect of my life.
As a little girl, I wasn 't even allowed to play with dolls or |
|stuffed toys in case they brought out a maternal instinct. It was drummed into me that being a mother, raising children and running a|
|home were a form of slavery. Having a career, travelling the world and being independent were what really mattered according to her. |
| |
|I love my mother very much, but I haven 't seen her or spoken to her since I became pregnant. She has never seen my son - her only |
|grandchild. My crime? Daring to question her ideology. |
| |
|Well, so be it. My mother may be revered by women around the world - goodness knows, many even have shrines to her. But I honestly |
|believe it 's time to puncture the myth and to reveal what life was really like to grow up as a child of the feminist revolution.
|
| |
|My parents met and fell in love in Mississippi during the civil rights movement. Dad [Mel Leventhal], was the brilliant lawyer son of|
|a Jewish family who had fled the Holocaust. Mum was the impoverished eighth child of sharecroppers from Georgia. When they married in|
|1967, inter-racial weddings were still illegal in some states. |
| |
|My early childhood was very happy although my parents were terribly busy, encouraging me to grow up fast. I was only one when I was |
|sent off to nursery school. I 'm told they even made me walk down the street to the school. |
| |
|Alice Walker believed so strongly that children enslaved their mothers she disowned her own daughter |
| |
|When I was eight, my parents divorced. From then on I was shuttled between two worlds - my father 's very conservative, traditional,|
|wealthy, white suburban community in New York, and my mother 's avant garde multi-racial community in California. I spent two years |
|with each parent - a bizarre way of doing things. |
| |
|Ironically, my mother regards herself as a hugely maternal woman. Believing that women are suppressed, she has campaigned for their |
|rights around the world and set up organisations to aid women abandoned in Africa - offering herself up as a mother figure. |
| |
|But, while she has taken care of daughters all over the world and is hugely revered for her public work and service, my childhood |
|tells a very different story. I came very low down in her priorities - after work, political integrity, self-fulfilment, |
|friendships, spiritual life, fame and travel. |
| |
|My mother would always do what she wanted - for example taking off to Greece for two months in the summer, leaving me with |
|relatives when I was a teenager. Is that independent, or just plain selfish? |
| |
|I was 16 when I found a now-famous poem she wrote comparing me to various calamities that struck and impeded the lives of other women|
|writers. Virginia Woolf was mentally ill and the Brontes died prematurely. My mother had me - a 'delightful distraction ', but a |
|calamity nevertheless. I found that a huge shock and very upsetting. |
| |
|According to the strident feminist ideology of the Seventies, women were sisters first, and my mother chose to see me as a sister |
|rather than a daughter. From the age of 13, I spent days at a time alone while my mother retreated to her writing studio - some 100|
|miles away. I was left with money to buy my own meals and lived on a diet of fast food. |
| |
|A neighbour, not much older than me, was deputised to look after me. I never complained. I saw it as my job to protect my mother and |
|never distract her from her writing. It never crossed my mind to say that I needed some time and attention from her. |
| |
|When I was beaten up at school - accused of being a snob because I had lighter skin than my black classmates - I always told my |
|mother that everything was fine, that I had won the fight. I didn 't want to worry her. |
| |
|But the truth was I was very lonely and, with my mother 's knowledge, started having sex at 13. I guess it was a relief for my mother |
|as it meant I was less demanding. And she felt that being sexually active was empowering for me because it meant I was in control of |
|my body. |
| |
|Now I simply cannot understand how she could have been so permissive. I barely want my son to leave the house on a play-date, let |
|alone start sleeping around while barely out of junior school. |
| |
|A good mother is attentive, sets boundaries and makes the world safe for her child. But my mother did none of those things. |
| |
|Although I was on the Pill - something I had arranged at 13, visiting the doctor with my best friend - I fell pregnant at 14. I |
|organised an abortion myself. Now I shudder at the memory. I was only a little girl. I don 't remember my mother being shocked or |
|upset. She tried to be supportive, accompanying me with her boyfriend. |
|...the aftermath haunted me for decades. It ate away at my self-confidence and, until I had Tenzin, I was terrified that I 'd never be|
|able to have a baby because of what I had done to the child I had destroyed. For feminists to say that abortion carries no |
|consequences is simply wrong. |
| |
|As a child, I was terribly confused, because while I was being fed a strong feminist message, I actually yearned for a traditional |
|mother. My father 's second wife, Judy, was a loving, maternal homemaker with five children she doted on. |
| |
|There was always food in the fridge and she did all the things my mother didn 't, such as attending their school events, taking |
|endless photos and telling her children at every opportunity how wonderful they were. |
| |
|My mother was the polar opposite. She never came to a single school event, she didn 't buy me any clothes, she didn 't even help me buy|
|my first bra - a friend was paid to go shopping with me. If I needed help with homework I asked my boyfriend 's mother. |
| |
|Moving between the two homes was terrible. At my father 's home I felt much more taken care of. But, if I told my mother that I 'd had |
|a good time with Judy, she 'd look bereft - making me feel I was choosing this white, privileged woman above her. I was made to feel|
|that I had to choose one set of ideals above the other. |
| |
|When I hit my 20s and first felt a longing to be a mother, I was totally confused. I could feel my biological clock ticking, but I |
|felt if I listened to it, I would be betraying my mother and all she had taught me. |
| |
|I tried to push it to the back of my mind, but over the next ten years the longing became more intense, and when I met Glen, a |
|teacher, at a seminar five years ago, I knew I had found the man I wanted to have a baby with. Gentle, kind and hugely supportive, he|
|is, as I knew he would be, the most wonderful father. |
| |
|Although I knew what my mother felt about babies, I still hoped that when I told her I was pregnant, she would be excited for me. |
| |
|Instead, when I called her one morning in the spring of 2004, while I was at one of her homes housesitting, and told her my news and |
|that I 'd never been happier, she went very quiet. All she could say was that she was shocked. Then she asked if I could check on her |
|garden. I put the phone down and sobbed - she had deliberately withheld her approval with the intention of hurting me. What loving |
|mother would do that? |
| |
|Worse was to follow. My mother took umbrage at an interview in which I 'd mentioned that my parents didn 't protect or look out for me.|
|She sent me an e-mail, threatening to undermine my reputation as a writer. I couldn 't believe she could be so hurtful - |
|particularly when I was pregnant. |
| |
|Devastated, I asked her to apologise and acknowledge how much she 'd hurt me over the years with neglect, withholding affection and |
|resenting me for things I had no control over - the fact that I am mixed-race, that I have a wealthy, white, professional father |
|and that I was born at all. |
| |
|But she wouldn 't back down. Instead, she wrote me a letter saying that our relationship had been inconsequential for years and that |
|she was no longer interested in being my mother. She even signed the letter with her first name, rather than 'Mom '. |
| |
|That was a month before Tenzin 's birth in December 2004, and I have had no contact with my mother since. She didn 't even get in touch|
|when he was rushed into the special care baby unit after he was born suffering breathing difficulties. |
| |
|And I have since heard that my mother has cut me out of her will in favour of one of my cousins. I feel terribly sad - my mother is|
|missing such a great opportunity to be close to her family. But I 'm also relieved. Unlike most mothers, mine has never taken any |
|pride in my achievements. She has always had a strange competitiveness that led her to undermine me at almost every turn. |
| |
|When I got into Yale - a huge achievement - she asked why on earth I wanted to be educated at such a male bastion. Whenever I |
|published anything, she wanted to write her version - trying to eclipse mine. When I wrote my memoir, Black, White And Jewish, my |
|mother insisted on publishing her version. She finds it impossible to step out of the limelight, which is extremely ironic in light |
|of her view that all women are sisters and should support one another. |
| |
|It 's been almost four years since I have had any contact with my mother, but it 's for the best - not only for my self-protection |
|but for my son 's well-being. I 've done all I can to be a loyal, loving daughter, but I can no longer have this poisonous relationship|
|destroy my life. |
| |
|I know many women are shocked by my views. They expect the daughter of Alice Walker to deliver a very different message. Yes, |
|feminism has undoubtedly given women opportunities. It 's helped open the doors for us at schools, universities and in the workplace. |
|But what about the problems it 's caused for my contemporaries? |
| |
|What about the children? |
| |
|The ease with which people can get divorced these days doesn 't take into account the toll on children. That 's all part of the |
|unfinished business of feminism. |
| |
|Then there is the issue of not having children. Even now, I meet women in their 30s who are ambivalent about having a family. They |
|say things like: 'I 'd like a child. If it happens, it happens. ' I tell them: 'Go home and get on with it because your window of |
|opportunity is very small. ' As I know only too well. |
| |
|Then I meet women in their 40s who are devastated because they spent two decades working on a PhD or becoming a partner in a law |
|firm, and they missed out on having a family. Thanks to the feminist movement, they discounted their biological clocks. They 've |
|missed the opportunity and they 're bereft. |
| |
|Feminism has betrayed an entire generation of women into childlessness. It is devastating. |
| |
|But far from taking responsibility for any of this, the leaders of the women 's movement close ranks against anyone who dares to |
|question them - as I have learned to my cost. I don 't want to hurt my mother, but I cannot stay silent. I believe feminism is an |
|experiment, and all experiments need to be assessed on their results. Then, when you see huge mistakes have been paid, you need to |
|make alterations. |
| |
|I hope that my mother and I will be reconciled one day. Tenzin deserves to have a grandmother. But I am just so relieved that my |
|viewpoint is no longer so utterly coloured by my mother 's. |
| |
|I am my own woman and I have discovered what really matters - a happy family. |
| |
|Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After A Lifetime Of Ambivalence by Rebecca Walker was published by Souvenir Press on May 8, £15. |
| |
|Interview by Tessa Cunningham |
“Study Casts Doubt on Abstinence-Only Programs”
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301003.html