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Attachment to Conventional Institutions and Adolescent Rapid Repeat Pregnancy: A Longitudinal National Study Among Adolescents in the United States

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Abstract

Introduction There is limited research on rapid repeat pregnancies (RRP) among adolescents, especially using nationally representative samples. We examine distal factors—school, family, peers, and public/private religious ties—and their associations with RRP among adolescent mothers. Methods Guided by social development theory, we conducted multivariate logistic regression analyses, adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, to examine associations between RRP and attachment to school, family, peers, and religion among 1158 female respondents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) who reported at least one live birth before age 20. Results Attachments to conventional institutions were associated with lower likelihood of RRP. Adolescent mothers who had a stronger relationship with their parents had reduced odds of RRP (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.83, 95 % CI 0.71–0.99). Increased odds of RRP were associated with anticipating fewer negative social consequences of sex (aOR 1.18, 95 % CI 1.02–1.35), never praying (versus praying daily; aOR 1.47, 95 % CI 1.10–1.96), and never participating in church-related youth activities (versus participating once a week; 1.04, 95 % CI 1.01–1.07). Discussion After an adolescent birth, social support from family, peers, and the community can benefit young mothers. Private aspects of religiosity may be especially important. Understanding the processes by which these distal factors are linked to the likelihood of RRP is needed to create multifaceted intervention programs that provide diverse methods of support customized to specific circumstances of adolescent mothers.

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Acknowledgments

Effort by Bianka M. Reese and Carolyn T. Halpern was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant numbers 3R01HD057046-04 (Reese), 2T32HD07168-36 (Reese), and R01-HD057046 (Halpern), CT Halpern, Principal Investigator, and by the Carolina Population Center (grant No. 5-R24-HD050924, awarded to the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). Most of the work for this paper was performed while Bianka Reese was in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC-Chapel Hill. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. Neither author has a conflict of interest related to this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Bianka M. Reese & Carolyn T. Halpern

  2. Carolina Population Center, 206 West Franklin St., Rm 208, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, USA

    Bianka M. Reese & Carolyn T. Halpern

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  1. Bianka M. Reese
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Correspondence to Bianka M. Reese.

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Reese, B.M., Halpern, C.T. Attachment to Conventional Institutions and Adolescent Rapid Repeat Pregnancy: A Longitudinal National Study Among Adolescents in the United States. Matern Child Health J 21, 58–67 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-2093-y

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