Abstract

Teen-aged childbearing is a serious social, economic and health problem which has now reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Teen pregnancies have been shown to produce infants of low birth weight, of higher risk to disease and of slower growth and development.

Many programs have been developed by the state and federal government to help the young mother better cope with the problems of pregnancy. These Teen Mother programs combine the opportunity to complete a high school education with instruction in the special skills needed for parenting. This study was designed to investigate the growth and development of the first children, ages birth to five years, of mothers, ages 14 to 18 years, who completed a Teen Mother program. The purpose of the study was to determine what effect the education in nutrition and parenting which the young mother received, had on the growth and development of her child. This was stated in the form of a null hypothesis, that there would be no significant (p=.05) difference in the growth and development of the children in the study and those of the general population of the same age and sex.

A sample of fifty children was measured for height and weight and also for language, social and motor development, by the use of the Denver Developmental Screening test. The sample was a purposive, non-random sample of the children of the first fifty mothers who consented to participate and who met the criteria. The design was pre-experimental with no control group. The results were compared with standard growth measurements for the general population matched for age and sex. The covariates of mother's age at delivery, length of gestation period, smoking history, complications of pregnancy, length of time in the program, and gestational time when first seeking prenatal care, were analyzed to determine their correlation with the birth weight of the infant. These findings were also compared with the findings of similar studies.

The findings revealed that of the fifty subjects in the study, 17 or 34 per cent, were at or below the 50th percentile curve on the standard weight charts for all boys and girls by age and sex. This difference was significant at the p=.05 level, showing a higher mean weight for the children in the study as compared to the population in general. Similar findings were revealed with measurements of height, where 16, or 32 per cent of the children in the study were at or below the 50th percentile curve on the standard charts for all boys and girls. This difference was also significant at the p=.05 level. The null hypothesis could not be supported as stated and was rejected.

The findings also showed that 98 per cent of the subjects had scores on the Denver Developmental Screening Test which were within normal limits for age. Only 2 per cent of the subjects, or one child, showed an abnormal score. The only covariate to show a significant relationship to the birthweight of the infant, using a multivariate analysis, was the length of gestation period. When this finding was compared to a similar study, the weeks of gestation of this study group showed a significant (p=.01) increase in the number of mothers delivering in the 38-42-week period. There was also a significant (p=.01) decrease in the gestational age when first seeking prenatal care of the mothers in this study group as compared to a similar study.

Since the Teen Mother Program emphasizes the importance of early prenatal care and requires a medical certificate for entrance, it can be inferred that the program has a positive effect on mothers seeking early prenatal care. This in turn would increase the probability of a longer gestational period and the resulting increase in birth weight and decrease in complications.

The composition of the study group was Caucasian, 36 per cent; Black, 2 percent; Chicano, 60 percent; and Native American, 2 percent. The high proportion of Chicano subjects may have been an influencing factor, since the variable of culture and socio-economic class were not controlled. The absence of a control group was also a limiting factor; however, since the fifty subjects represented approximately one-third of the target population of 170 mothers who had completed this Teen Mother program, generalizations to this group probably would be valid.

LLU Discipline

Nursing

Department

Nursing

School

Graduate School

First Advisor

Darlene B. Johnson

Second Advisor

Evelyn L. Elwell

Third Advisor

Audrey L. Burgess

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Level

M.S.

Year Degree Awarded

1979

Date (Title Page)

12-1979

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Pregnancy in Adolescence; Child Welfare

Type

Thesis

Page Count

x; 105

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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