High Educational Aspirations Among Pregnant Adolescents Are Related to Pregnancy Unwantedness and Subsequent Parenting Stress and Inadequacy

Mexican-Origin Adolescent Mothers' Beliefs and Practices Concerning Children's School Readiness

Parents' academic socialization of their young children is a critical yet understudied area, especially in the context of vulnerable parent-child dyads. The current longitudinal study examined factors that informed mothers' beliefs and practices concerning children's kindergarten readiness in a sample of 204 Mexican-origin adolescent mothers (M age = 19.94). Adolescent mothers' individual characteristics and assets (i.e., parental self-efficacy, educational attainment, educational utility beliefs, knowledge of child development) and sources of stress (i.e., economic hardship, coparenting conflict) were related to the importance they placed on children's social-emotional and academic readiness for kindergarten, their provision of cognitive stimulation and emotional support to their children in the home, and their enjoyment of literacy activities with their child. Moreover, adolescents' perception of parenting daily hassles emerged as a mediator in this process. Findings underscore the importance of considering Mexican-origin adolescent mothers' strengths and assets along with their unique contextual stressors as they relate to beliefs and practices that could have implications for their children's school success.

Parental Cohabitation and Breastfeeding Outcomes Among United States Adolescent Mothers

AbstractBackground: Adolescent mothers in the United States experience disproportionately lower rates of breastfeeding compared to older mothers. Evidence suggests that paternal support helps improve breastfeeding outcomes; however, support is difficult to quantify. Parental cohabitation is easy to identify and could be used to quantify paternal support. Research Aim: Our study is to investigate the association between parental cohabitation and breastfeeding initiation and duration among US adolescent mothers. Materials and Methods: Data from the 2011-2017 National Survey of Family Growth were used. Our study sample included primipara, adolescent mothers (aged 15-19 years) who gave birth to a singleton (n = 1,867). Multivariate logistic regression and Cox Proportional Hazards models were used to analyze the relationship between cohabitation and breastfeeding initiation and duration, respectively. All models were subsequently stratified by race/ethnicity due to evidence of effect modification. Results: After adjusting for all a priori confounders, cohabiting with the infant's father at birth was associated with increased odds of breastfeeding initiation compared to noncohabiting adolescent mothers (odds ratio [OR]: 1.5, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08-2.16). After stratifying by race/ethnicity, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic white adolescent mothers were more likely to initiate breastfeeding if cohabiting with the infant's father (OR_Hispanic: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.10-3.35; OR_{Non-Hispanic white}: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.05-2.87). We found no evidence of an association between parental cohabitation and breastfeeding duration. Conclusions: Our study found evidence that cohabitation status at birth increases the odds of breastfeeding initiation in adolescent mothers. Practitioners should consider cohabitation status when working with adolescent mothers.

A Prospective Test of the Family Stress Model with Mexican-origin Adolescent Mothers

The current six-wave longitudinal study tested the Family Stress Model among 204 Mexican-origin families in which an adolescent pregnancy had occurred. Wave 1 (W1) occurred when adolescents (M age = 16.80 years; SD = 1.00) were pregnant, and the last wave (W6) occurred when children were 5 years of age. In the current study, the Family Stress Model was expanded to include parenting relations among adolescent mothers and fathers, and among adolescent mothers and grandmothers. In support of the Family Stress Model, findings indicated that W1 family income was negatively associated with W6 child internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors via increased W2 economic pressure, increased W3 maternal depressive symptoms, increased W4 mother-grandmother coparenting conflict, and increased W5 maternal parenting hassles. Additionally, W4 mother-father coparenting conflict was positively associated with W6 child internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors via W5 maternal parenting hassles. Findings are discussed with attention to the processes by which family income informs child problem behaviors over time. El presente estudio longitudinal de seis años analizó el Family Stress Model con una muestra de 204 familias de origen mexicano en las cuales había ocurrido un embarazo durante la adolescencia. La primera fase (W1) del estudio se llevó a cabo cuando las adolescentes (M edad= 16.80 años; DE= 1.00) estaban embarazadas, y la última fase (W6) ocurrió cuando sus niños tenían cinco años. En el presente estudio, el Family Stress Model se amplió para incluir variables sobre la co-paternidad entre las madres adolescentes y los padres, y entre las madres adolescentes y las abuelas. Los resultados apoyaron las ideas del Family Stress Model; ingreso familiar en W1 mostró un efecto negativo con problemas de comportamiento y problemas de internalización de los niños en W6 a través del aumento de la presión económica en W2, el aumento de síntomas de depresión maternos en W3, el aumento del conflicto de la co-paternidad entre madre y abuela en W4, y el aumento de problemas de crianza maternas en W5. Adicionalmente, conflicto de la co-paternidad entre la madre y el padre mostró un efecto positivo con problemas de comportamiento y problemas de internalización de los niños en W6 a través de problemas de crianza maternas en W5. Varias ideas se presentan en la Discusión sobre como el ingreso familiar informa el comportamiento problemático en niños a largo plazo.

Associations of postpartum sleep, stress, and depressive symptoms with LPS-stimulated cytokine production among African American and White women

BACKGROUND

Postpartum is a period of unique psychosocial stress characterized by sleep disturbance, risk for depressed mood, and heightened parenting stress. However, data on effects of these exposures on inflammatory immune function are limited.

METHODS

This study examined associations among sleep, psychosocial stress (i.e., parenting stress, general perceived stress), mood (i.e., depressive symptoms), serum cytokine levels, and LPS-stimulated proinflammatory cytokine production among 69 women (32 African American, 37 White) assessed at 7-10weeks postpartum.

RESULTS

No associations between behavioral measures and serum cytokine levels were observed among women of either race. In African American women, but not Whites, poorer sleep quality, greater parenting stress, and greater depressive symptoms were associated with greater LPS-stimulated IL-6 and IL-8 production (ps≤0.05). Also in African Americans, greater general perceived stress was associated with greater IL-8 production, and greater depressive symptoms with greater stimulated TNF-α production (ps≤0.05). Simple mediation models highlighted the bidirectional relationship between stress and sleep in relation to inflammation among African American women.

CONCLUSIONS

Significant effects of both stress/distress and poor sleep quality on proinflammatory cytokine production during postpartum were observed uniquely among African American women. These data are consistent with an allostatic load model which predicts that conditions of chronic stress impart vulnerability to dysregulated responses to novel stressor exposures. The bidirectional nature of the stress-sleep relationship has clinical relevance. Studies examining whether interventions focused on one or both of these psychological factors during postpartum is beneficial for inflammatory profiles would be informative. In addition, examination of these models in relation to maternal health at postpartum, including delivery related wounds and other infections, is warranted.

Family, Academic, and Peer Group Predictors of Adolescent Pregnancy Expectations and Young Adult Childbearing

Compared with previous generations, today's young people increasingly delay parenthood. Having children in the late teens and early 20s is thus a rarer experience rooted in and potentially leading to the stratification of American families. Understanding why some adolescents expect to do so can illuminate how stratification unfolds. Informed by theories of the life course, social control, and reasoned action, this study used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort (n = 4,556) to explore outcomes and antecedents of adolescent pregnancy expectations with logistic regressions. Results indicated that those expectations-including neither low nor high (i.e., split) expectations-predicted subsequent childbearing. These apparently consequential expectations were, in turn, most closely associated with youth's academics and peer groups. These findings illustrate how different domains can intersect in the early life course to shape future prospects, and they emphasize split pregnancy expectations reported in a nationally representative sample of young women and men.