Predicting and understanding developmental delay of children of adolescent mothers: a multidimensional approach

Divergent literatures on potential relationships among psychological, biological, and contextual factors that may contribute to mental retardation and other types of developmental delay in the children of adolescent mothers were reviewed. A linear model was proposed to describe the direct and indirect effects of learning ability, maternal health, social support, personal adjustment, cognitive readiness for parenting, and infant characteristics on adolescent parenting and child development. Because the validity of the model can be determined through the use of causal modeling (LISREL), it holds the potential for determining a unique set of risk factors that may produce developmental delay in children of adolescent mothers. These factors can serve as the targets in designing intervention programs for such mothers.