This project is a continuation of a research program initiated by Dr. Lamb at the University of Utah. Work completed or in progress at NICHD involves analyses of data from two large nationally-representative samples: the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY) and the Census Bureau's Current Population Surveys (CPS). The goal is to describe the psychosocial context of adolescent parenthood and to explore the long-term effects for both mothers and fathers. A. Correlates of adolescent fatherhood. In an analysis of data from the NLSY, we found clear evidence that, regardless of race, adolescent fatherhood was but one symptom of a wider variety of psychosocial problems. Compared with nonfathers of similar ages from similar backgrounds, adolescent fathers were much more likely to have a history of involvement with police, school problems, and substance abuse. B. Long-term correlates of adolescent parenthood. In a previous analysis of CPS data, it was shown that adolescent marriage was associated in men with deficits in marital stability, income, educational attainment, and occupational prestige through at least 40 years after the marriage. Similar adverse long-term consequences were subsequently found for mothers. In the case of mothers, both adolescent childbearing and adolescent marriage were associated with higher lifetime fertility (adjusting for age), lower income, less prestigious occupational ratings, lower educational attainment, and more frequent marital dissolution. The effects were not additive, but the """"""""best"""""""" outcomes were obtained by those women who delayed both childbearing and marriage into adulthood. The significance of this project lies in its demonstration that adolescent parent hood (a) is not a random or chance event and (b) has long term--essentially life-long--effects on the psychological and socioeconomic status of both men and women.
