Support systems and caretaking behaviors of adolescent and older mothers: the first year after delivery.

This study investigated differences in support systems and caretaking behaviors of adolescent and older mothers. Nineteen adolescent and 25 older, Caucasian, first-time mothers completed the Community Interaction Checklist and Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment one, six, and 12 months after delivery. No significant differences in number or quality of daily interactions existed, although teens interacted more with helping agents and less with the baby's father and work contacts. No significant relationship between support and caretaking occurred. Teens may not be the isolated group sometimes depicted in the literature. They are a diverse population whose varying, individual needs must be considered prior to intervention.

Long-term support and personal adjustment of adolescent and older mothers.

Adolescent and older mothers reported the size and quality of social networks and perceptions of family support at 1, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Maternal behavior, general life satisfaction, and parental satisfaction were assessed at 12 months. No significant differences were found in the size of social networks and quality of interactions within those networks, though older mothers had significantly higher scores on perceived family support than did adolescent mothers. Perceived family support and quality of interactions within the social network generally were associated positively with maternal behavior, life satisfaction, and parental satisfaction. This was true in more cases for the adolescent than for older mothers.

Parenting attitudes of adolescent and older mothers.

The parenting attitudes of adolescent and older mothers were assessed at 1 and 12 months postpartum to explore group differences and determine if these attitudes predicted quality of home environment and parenting behaviors at 12 months. Adolescent mothers scored significantly lower than did older mothers in empathy toward children's needs, but there were no significant group differences on three other parenting attitude constructs. There were no significant correlations between parenting attitudes at 1 month and parenting behaviors at 12 months for either group. For adolescent mothers at 12 months postpartum, the only attitude construct that was significantly related to concurrent quality of parenting was developmental expectations of the child. These and other findings are discussed in the context of current theory and intervention related to adolescent parenting.

Childrearing of firstborns by adolescent and older mothers.

Adolescent and older mothers of firstborn infants were observed and interviewed to learn about their childrearing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Adolescent mothers knew as much about developmental milestones and had equally positive attitudes about childrearing as older mothers. No significant differences existed between groups during observed sessions of direct childcare interactions. However, adolescent mothers scored significantly lower than older mothers on a measure of overall stimulation provided for the infant. Also, adolescents relied more on relatives and their mothers for help and information about childcare, while older mothers turned more often to friends. Implications of these results for providers of service to adolescent mothers are discussed.

PIP: Adolescent and older mothers of 1st-born infants were observed and interviewed to learn about their childbearing knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Subjects were recruited from a mixed urban and rural region of Central Maine. 26 Caucasian mothers participated, 11 of whom were adolescents and 15 ranging from the ages of 21 to 36. The following issues were investigated: whether adolescent and older mothers differ in their knowledge of developmental milestones and childrearing attitudes; whether adolescent and older mothers differ in interactions with their infants when observed in the home; whether adolescent mothers construct less optimal environments for their infants as compared with older mothers; and whether there are differences in the number and nature of sources of childrearing information and help used by adolescent and older mothers. Adolescent mothers knew as much about developmental milestones and had equally positive attitudes about childrearing as older mothers. No significant differences existed between groups during the observed sessions of direct childcare interactions. However, adolescent mothers scored significantly lower than older mothers on a measure of overall stimulation provided for the infant. Additionally, adolescents relied more on relatives and their mothers for help and information about childcare, while older mothers turned more to friends. The results on the differences between groups to whom mothers turned for help and childrearing information suggest a new direction for conceptualizing support groups for adolescent parents. A possible support group approach might be to focus on mothers of 1st-born, rather than on adolescent mothers. Special attention could be devoted to recruitment of older, more socioeconomically and educationally advantaged mothers to meet with the adolescent mothers. Several advantages could result from this strategy. Older mothers could model several important behaviors for adolescent mothers.

Conditional discrimination after errorless and trial-and-error training.

Children were trained on a visual discrimination by stimulus shaping, stimulus fading, or trial-and-error. Those who did not acquire the conditional discrimination received a second, different training. More children initially trained by stimulus shaping acquired the conditional discrimination than did those initially trained with stimulus fading or trial-and-error. After a history of fading or trial-and-error training, children were less likely to acquire the conditional discrimination even after the more successful procedure of shaping was later used.