Study Examines Factors Influencing Pregnancy Risk Among Mexican-American Siblings of Teen Mothers

January 28, 2010 — Summary of "How an Adolescent's Childbearing Affects Siblings' Pregnancy Risk: A Qualitative Study of Mexican-American Youths," East et al., Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, December 2009.

Patricia East and colleagues from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California-San Diego note that most of the 440,000 teenagers giving birth in the U.S. each year continue to live with their families after their infants are born. The researchers sought to ''understand the circumstances that emerge in the wake of a teenager's childbearing that might increase or decrease siblings' risk of teenage pregnancy or fatherhood'' with the hope of providing insight into how to address the high rates of teen pregnancy and childbearing among Latinos.

Methods

The researches focused on Mexican-American families because Latinas have the highest birth rate of any U.S. racial or ethnic group, their birth rate is the most resistant to decline, and because teenage childbearing is more common among Latinas of Mexican origin. In addition, Mexican-American families usually have "strong proscriptions against non-marital pregnancy and childbearing," so they "might experience higher levels of conflict and dissension following an unmarried adolescent's childbearing than other families," according to the study.

From 2005 through 2007, 41 Mexican-American teenagers with older sisters that were teen mothers raising a child in the family home participated in interviews about how their sisters' situation had affected them and their families. In each case, the teenager raising the child was unmarried and was the first family member to give birth as a teenager. The interview portion of the study was part of a larger longitudinal questionnaire study involving 122 younger siblings of teenage parents. The first 75 teenagers enrolled in the study at large were invited to participate in the interview portion, and 31 girls and 10 boys agreed to do so. The average age of participants was 15.2 years, and the older sister was 16.9 years old on average when she gave birth.

Results

Researchers identified six risk factors -- those that increased a sibling's likelihood of becoming involved in a teen pregnancy -- and 11 protective factors -- those that decreased the likelihood of becoming involved in a teen pregnancy. The risks included: "perception that early parenting is not a hardship, schooling difficulties, desire to have a baby, depression and social isolation, reduced closeness or time spent with their mother, and positive remarks from friends about the sister or her baby."

The most common risk was the belief that early parenting is not a hardship, mentioned by two-thirds of youths. Many participants thought that the family and school support systems available to teenage parents counterbalanced the difficulties of childrearing. One-third of participants reported increased school difficulties, and one-fourth said their sister's situation made them want to have a child. Many of the participants appeared to idealize motherhood and the bond their sister had with the child, the researchers noted. One-quarter of participants said they had felt feelings of depression and social isolation, sometimes stemming from the responsibility of caring for the infant in their sibling's absence. One-fifth said they spent less time with their mother as a result of her new responsibilities in helping to care for the infant, and one-fifth said that their friends had made positive comments that favored the infants' appearance or how "cool" the older sister was for being a young parent.

The protective factors identified in the study included: "increased motivation to delay parenting, appreciation of the difficulty of parenting, mothers' explicitly and -- separately -- implicitly discouraging youths from early parenting, increased closeness or time spent with mother, mothers' differentiating youths from the older sister, mothers' increased strictness and protectiveness, youths' higher school aspirations, older sisters' discouraging early parenting, youths' improved behavior, and mothers' discussing contraceptive use."

The most common protective factor was discussed by all but one participant: an increased motivation to avoid early parenting. The second-most frequently discussed -- for 90% of the participants -- was an increased appreciation for the challenges of parenting. The third-most common protective factor, discussed by two-thirds of participants, was encouragement by mothers to delay parenting. More than half of participants said their sibling's pregnancy led to them spending more time with their own mothers, and some reported that their mother purposely differentiated them from their parenting sister, such as expressing that they should "not be like [their] sister."

Conclusions

The researchers wrote, "Interventions that address the risks identified in this study, as well as incorporate or build upon the protective themes, might be useful, given that teenage birth rates among younger sisters of teenage mothers are two-to-six times as high as those of teenagers in the general population." They added, "Our findings about the family dynamics that result from a teenager's childbearing can help inform programs that work directly with teenage parents." In addition, mothers of the teens "might benefit from learning their children's thoughts about and reactions" to teen childbearing, they wrote. According to the researchers, "[E]fforts that encourage family involvement and discussion may be a worthwhile prevention approach."