Teen Pregnancy and Parenting

Book excerpt: 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. Abstinence education is the best way to prevent teen pregnancy. Teen Pregnancy and Parenting ends by highlighting the prevention and intervention implications for families, practitioners, and policymakers. It will be of interest to academics and advanced students from a range of disciplines and professions including psychology, public policy, nursing, social work and sociology.