Teenage pregnancy: family syndrome?

A short term, longitudinal study was conducted in order to explore selected psychosocial characteristics of fourteen teenagers aged sixteen years or younger who became mothers, the subsequent interaction of the mother-infant dyads, and the development and attachment of their infants at twelve months. The sample was matched for socioeconomic and marital status, intellectual ability and ethnicity with non-pregnant teenagers and pregnant women twenty years or older. The subjects were given a psychological and social history test battery. The groups did not differ significantly on the personality tests. The pregnant women reported a significantly poorer daughter-father relationship than the nonpregnant controls. In a high proportion of cases it was found that their fathers were absent or ineffectual and the homes mother-ridden. The interview data suggest that a large number of the pregnancies were psychologically motivated.