Teenage Mothers Disadvantages

mothers, “Began life with a plethora of associated disadvantages that seemed likely to thwart their development and success in later life.” (Furstenberg, 2003)

However, many individuals have also argued that the young women who became teenage mothers had disadvantages in life before even becoming a teenage mother. Many argued that these young women were more likely to come from poor households, have difficulties in school and were held to a lower expectation of attending college. (as cited in Furstenberg, 2003) Furstenberg stated that, “some commentators have argued that our relatively high teenage birth rates may be traced to the fact that we also have the highest levels of income inequality. And even more to the point, more children in the United States than any other Western nation grow up in poverty.” (as cited in Furstenberg, 2003) Having been raised in an environment as such, it has been argued that these teens were, therefore, more likely to

In 2003 there was an article that was released that stated, “The vast literature on teen pregnancies leads us to believe that teen out-of-wedlock mothers were disadvantaged in terms of parental income and education and other resources prior to their first childbirth.” (Levine & Painter 2003) Perhaps that fact that the teens were disadvantaged growing up, led them to be more likely to become teenage mothers. The current research that is available for study, however, has not been able to distinguish whether the disadvantages associated with teenage childbirth were present prior to the young women becoming pregnant versus resulting from the women having children at an early age. It has since been made more of a priority to examine this area of teenage childbearing and what their childhood life was like prior to becoming a teenage