The Transition to Parenthood Among Adolescent Fathers and Their Partners: Does Antisocial Behavior Predict Problems in Parenting?

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that risk factors associated with the occurrence of adolescent fatherhood would predict the parental functioning of adolescent fathers and their partners as well as the quality of their co-parental relationship. Prior to the birth of their first child, we assessed the behavioral functioning of expectant adolescent fathers. Twelve to 18 months postbirth, the Quality of Relationships Inventory (Pierce, 1994) was used to assess relationships between teen fathers and their partners. The Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1990) and the Parenting Behavior Checklist (Fox, 1990) were used to assess parental functioning among teen fathers and their partners. Data were collected from two demographically distinct samples (Salt Lake City, Utah, and Chicago, Illinois) to assess the generalizability of hypothesized relations between risk factors and parental functioning. For both samples of young fathers, the occurrence of antisocial behavior problems during or prior to their partners' pregnancy predicted problem during the transition to parenthood. Several discrepancies in the relation between risk factors and the outcome variables were observed between the Salt Lake City and Chicago samples. These discrepancies highlight the importance of clarifying social-contextual influences in the outcome of adolescent parents.

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