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School-based support for urban adolescent mothers
M Meadows1, L S Sadler, G D Reitmeyer
1Pediatric Primary Care Center, Yale New Haven Hospital, Yale University School of Nursing, New Haven, Conn., USA.
Introduction:
The purpose of this research was to examine infant birth weights and high school completion rates for two cohorts of adolescent mothers attending an urban school-based program, the Polly T. McCabe Center.
Method:
A retrospective record review was conducted with two convenience samples of 47 adolescent mothers (study I) aged 16.1 +/- 1.4 years and 60 adolescent mothers (study II) aged 15.9 +/- 1.4 years who were enrolled in the McCabe Center during the 1992-1993 and 1996-1997 academic years.
Results:
The incidence of low birth weight infants born to students was 4% in study I and 13.6% in study II. High school continuation/completion rates for study I were 79% at 3 years after leaving the program and 80% for study II at 1 year after leaving the program.
Discussion:
The young mothers and infants appear to have benefitted from the McCabe Center's intervention. Findings of the study suggest that continued implementation of supportive school-based programs similar to the McCabe Center may help prevent lower birth weight infants born to adolescent mothers and may help decrease the high school drop-out rate among this population.