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Predicting Desire for a Child Among Low-Income Urban Adolescent Girls: Interpersonal Processes in the Context of Poverty

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Abstract

Although poverty is a well-established risk factor for adolescent motherhood, little is known about the interpersonal processes that influence reproductive-decision making within this broader context. An important factor appears to be the adolescent's desire to have a child. In the present study, interpersonal influences on the desire to have a child were examined in a sample of pregnant low-income urban adolescents. Specifically, we hypothesized that adolescent girls who report poorer relationships with their parents would report greater emotional reliance on their boyfriends and greater reliance on boyfriends would predict greater desire for a child. Results of structural equation modeling provide support for this hypothesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois

    Kathryn Grant, Jane Halpert, Brian Razzino & Trina Davis

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Cook County Hospital, Chicago, Illinois

    Pamela Grace, Jaime Trujillo & Anna Kessler-Cordeiro

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  1. Kathryn Grant
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  2. Pamela Grace
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  3. Jaime Trujillo
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Grant, K., Grace, P., Trujillo, J. et al. Predicting Desire for a Child Among Low-Income Urban Adolescent Girls: Interpersonal Processes in the Context of Poverty. The Journal of Primary Prevention 22, 341–359 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015223522236

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