The silent truth of teenage pregnancies: Birth to Twenty cohort's next generation

Abstract

By the 1970s teenage pregnancies were recognised as a problem worldwide. Initially the major concern focused on the potential biological risks of obstetric complications in adolescents. Subsequent studies indicated that teen pregnancies do not present any problems unanticipated among primipara generally. Studies on the possible social and psychological problems associated with adolescent childbearing confirmed that lack of social support was a risk factor for the adjustment and development of both young mothers and their children.2 Recent concerns about teen pregnancies have centred on the disruption that childbearing causes to the educational and occupational trajectories of young women, consequently maintaining and exacerbating poverty.