Early parenthood for the sisters of adolescent mothers: A proposed conceptual model of decision making

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that the sisters of adolescent mothers have an increased risk of becoming teenage parents. From our experience in caring for over 600 teenage mothers in a comprehensive family-oriented teen-tot clinic, we have developed a conceptual model, based on social cognitive theory, which describes the influence of teenage mothers on their sisters' decisions about pregnancy and childbearing. Our model focuses on the direct effects of both intrafamilial and social-cultural factors on adolescents' childbearing attitudes and their individual sexual values. Intrafamilial factors include the impact of sibling teenage parents and influences of parenting styles. Social-cultural factors include social norms that favor early sexual behavior and childbearing. These interact with peer influence to directly affect social and self-regulative skills, feeling of self-efficacy, and the individual's sexual values. Personal factors, such as hopelessness and depression, are influenced by multigenerational poverty. These personal factors are integrated with intrafamilial and social-cultural factors to produce the adolescent's personal meaning and cognitive assessment of pregnancy and childbearing. Clinicians can use this model when developing interventions that focus on the various factors that influence an adolescent sister's decisions about becoming pregnant.