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Young mothers and their LBW infants: Effects of coresidency with grandmother on child development at 36 months
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ABSTRACTS OF PAPERSPRESEN’IXD
JOURNALOF ADOLESCENTHEALTHVol. 14, No, 1
YOUNG WOMEN’SVIEWSON THEIRABORTIONDECISIONS DURINGADOLESCEKCE:A SEVEN-YEARPROSPECI’IVESTUDY. Linda Bearinger, Ph.D., R.N., Rende Sieving, M.S.N.. P.N.P., R.N.C., and RobertW. Blum. M.D., Ph.D. Division of Adol. Health and Gen. Ped., Dept of Ped. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Factorsthat lead to satisfaciionabout pngnancy decisions made duringadolescence continue to be debated. A potentiallysensitive issue is the contributionof mandatory parentalinvolvement to the decision-makingprocess. In 1984.148 adolescent girls participatedin face-to-faceinterviewson the day of theirabortion in 6 Midwestclinics. A representativesampleof 85 girls completed follow-up telephone interviews one year post-abortion(Time 2 [T2]). At the 7-year post-abortionfollow-up (?Tme3 [T3]). 79% of the 12 sample were contactedwith a 60% participationrak. These women, now between the ages of 2 1 and 25. describedtheirviews on the abortiondecision they madeduring their adolescence. This I-year prospectivedesign with 3 waves of data collection provides a unique opportunityto link self-reportedviews on the abortiondecision from the perspectives of adolescent girls (at Tl) with theiryoung adultperspectives(T3). Since theirabortion 7 years prior,only 10.5%of those who had not notified one or both parentsat the time of theirabortion, had subsequentlydone so. Thus, reasonsfor non-noafication at Time 1 and 2 nmained salient after7 years, including family dysfunction, parentalabsence, and fearof retribution, Across the two waves of post-abortioninterviews there was high consistency @9096) of decision satisfaction,with 97% of the women reportingsatisfaction with theirabortiondecision madeduring adolescence. Decision satisfactionwas ll~t significantlyrelatedto parentalconsultationat the timeof the abo&on. Since parental involvementwas not predictiveof decision satisfaction,our findings call into question the assertionthat mandatedparentalinvolvement is requisitefor abortiondecision-makingduring adolescence.
YOUNG MOTHERS AND THEIR LBW INFANTS: EFFECTS Qf= CORESIDENCY WITH GRANDMOTHER ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT AT 36 MONTHS. Sandra K Pope, MPH, Leanne Whiteside, BS, Kelly J Kelleher, MD MPH, Robert E Bradley, phD, Vaughn I Rickert, PsyD, Patrick H Casey, MD. Dept of Pediatrics, Univ of AR for Medical Sciences, Univ of AR at LR. Teenage parenting and preterm delivery of low birth weight (LBW) infants both contribute to developmental delays. Social support, such as living with the infant’s grandmother (GM), may ameliorate these effects. We examined the impact of co-residency with GM on develorJmental outcomes at 36 months of 271 LBW infants born to mothers. aged 15-24, enrolled as control subjects in the Infant Health and Development Program. These infants were born primarily to minority (66% Black, 12% Hispanic), unmarried (67%) mothers, who were living below the federal poverty level (66%). Mothers co-residing with the infant’s GM were more likely to be Black (pe.OOl), have IQ scores less than 70 (pc.Ol), report more distress (pe.05). and live in poverty (pe.01) than mothers not co-residing with GM. Controlling for the presence of other risk factors that these children were exposed to, including maternal age, poverty, co-residency with infant’s father/boyfriend, maternal IQ, etc., multiple regression analyses showed that co-residence with GM had a protective influence on 36 month intellectual scores (p<.OO3).Specifically, infants born to White and Hispanic mothers who were living with GM scored 6-9 points higher on Stanford-Binet IQ scores compared to those not co-residing, whereas co-residing with GM had little impact on the IQ of infants bcrn to Black mothers (pe.04). For infants born to moUlers with low maternal IQ, co-residence with GM was associated with improved overall health status, as measured by the RAND index; no influence of co-residence was noted on health status for infants of mothers with higher IQ scores. Interventions designed to target infants of young mothers need to embrace a family context, so that where possible, the protective effect of co-residency with grandmother can be enhanced.
ABSTRACTS OF PAPERSPRESEN’IXD
JOURNALOF ADOLESCENTHEALTHVol. 14, No, 1
YOUNG WOMEN’SVIEWSON THEIRABORTIONDECISIONS DURINGADOLESCEKCE:A SEVEN-YEARPROSPECI’IVESTUDY. Linda Bearinger, Ph.D., R.N., Rende Sieving, M.S.N.. P.N.P., R.N.C., and RobertW. Blum. M.D., Ph.D. Division of Adol. Health and Gen. Ped., Dept of Ped. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Factorsthat lead to satisfaciionabout pngnancy decisions made duringadolescence continue to be debated. A potentiallysensitive issue is the contributionof mandatory parentalinvolvement to the decision-makingprocess. In 1984.148 adolescent girls participatedin face-to-faceinterviewson the day of theirabortion in 6 Midwestclinics. A representativesampleof 85 girls completed follow-up telephone interviews one year post-abortion(Time 2 [T2]). At the 7-year post-abortionfollow-up (?Tme3 [T3]). 79% of the 12 sample were contactedwith a 60% participationrak. These women, now between the ages of 2 1 and 25. describedtheirviews on the abortiondecision they madeduring their adolescence. This I-year prospectivedesign with 3 waves of data collection provides a unique opportunityto link self-reportedviews on the abortiondecision from the perspectives of adolescent girls (at Tl) with theiryoung adultperspectives(T3). Since theirabortion 7 years prior,only 10.5%of those who had not notified one or both parentsat the time of theirabortion, had subsequentlydone so. Thus, reasonsfor non-noafication at Time 1 and 2 nmained salient after7 years, including family dysfunction, parentalabsence, and fearof retribution, Across the two waves of post-abortioninterviews there was high consistency @9096) of decision satisfaction,with 97% of the women reportingsatisfaction with theirabortiondecision madeduring adolescence. Decision satisfactionwas ll~t significantlyrelatedto parentalconsultationat the timeof the abo&on. Since parental involvementwas not predictiveof decision satisfaction,our findings call into question the assertionthat mandatedparentalinvolvement is requisitefor abortiondecision-makingduring adolescence.
YOUNG MOTHERS AND THEIR LBW INFANTS: EFFECTS Qf= CORESIDENCY WITH GRANDMOTHER ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT AT 36 MONTHS. Sandra K Pope, MPH, Leanne Whiteside, BS, Kelly J Kelleher, MD MPH, Robert E Bradley, phD, Vaughn I Rickert, PsyD, Patrick H Casey, MD. Dept of Pediatrics, Univ of AR for Medical Sciences, Univ of AR at LR. Teenage parenting and preterm delivery of low birth weight (LBW) infants both contribute to developmental delays. Social support, such as living with the infant’s grandmother (GM), may ameliorate these effects. We examined the impact of co-residency with GM on develorJmental outcomes at 36 months of 271 LBW infants born to mothers. aged 15-24, enrolled as control subjects in the Infant Health and Development Program. These infants were born primarily to minority (66% Black, 12% Hispanic), unmarried (67%) mothers, who were living below the federal poverty level (66%). Mothers co-residing with the infant’s GM were more likely to be Black (pe.OOl), have IQ scores less than 70 (pc.Ol), report more distress (pe.05). and live in poverty (pe.01) than mothers not co-residing with GM. Controlling for the presence of other risk factors that these children were exposed to, including maternal age, poverty, co-residency with infant’s father/boyfriend, maternal IQ, etc., multiple regression analyses showed that co-residence with GM had a protective influence on 36 month intellectual scores (p<.OO3).Specifically, infants born to White and Hispanic mothers who were living with GM scored 6-9 points higher on Stanford-Binet IQ scores compared to those not co-residing, whereas co-residing with GM had little impact on the IQ of infants bcrn to Black mothers (pe.04). For infants born to moUlers with low maternal IQ, co-residence with GM was associated with improved overall health status, as measured by the RAND index; no influence of co-residence was noted on health status for infants of mothers with higher IQ scores. Interventions designed to target infants of young mothers need to embrace a family context, so that where possible, the protective effect of co-residency with grandmother can be enhanced.