Factors in the Resolution of Adolescent Premarital Pregnancies

This article examines the effect of family background factors on first premarital pregnancy resolution for adolescents in the United States. Teenage fertility constitutes a sizable percentage of total fertility, and each outcome has a potentially different type of family structure associated with it. Not only are there marked racial/ethnic differences in the ways such pregnancies are resolved, but the effects of family structure, age at first conception, family size, and working mother also differ between blacks, whites, and Hispanics. Parental education is a highly significant predictor for all groups: the higher the level of education, the less likely the pregnancy will be carried to term.