This investigation proposes to examine prospectively the contribution of selected psychological and social factors to the developmental risk status of adolescent mothers and their children. A key feature is the systematic study of mother-child interactive behaviors and how they potentially link the study factors to emerging competencies in 12- to 24-month-old children. The study factors include maternal self-esteem, psychological well-being, and social support. Outcome measures tap a range of child developmental processes, including cognitive-linguistic and socio-emotional development. In addition, the study gathers information about the potentially important role of alternate caregiver-child interactive behaviors in the overall adjustment of mother and child. The study will follow longitudinally a cohort of 100 largely Black and Hispanic adolescent mothers (less than 19 years old) selected from the total population giving birth at a major urban medical center during a 9-month period. The design includes a comparison group of 100 Black and Hispanic adult mothers (more or less than 20 years old) from the same community who gave birth during the same period, matched for parity and social class. Follow-up assessments of mothers, toddlers, and alternate caregivers at 12 and 24 months will be conducted in the home and laboratory settings. Hypothesized effects and group differences will be tested by multivariate analyses.
