Teen Pregnancy and Parenting

Whether glamorised or stigmatised, teenage parenthood is all too often used to stand for a host of social problems, and empirical research results ignored. Identifying core controversies surrounding teen pregnancy and parenting, this book resolves misperceptions using findings from large-scale, longitudinal, and qualitative research studies from the US and other Western countries.

Summarising the evidence and integrating it with a systems perspective, the authors explore ten prevalent myths about teenage parents, including:

• Teen pregnancy is associated with other behavior problems.
• Children of teen parents will experience cognitive delay, adjustment problems, and will themselves become teen parents.
• Better outcomes are achieved when teen mothers live with their own mothers.
• Teen pregnancy costs tax payers lots of money.
• Abs