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Adolescent Childbearing as Career “Choice”: Perspective From an Ecological Context
Author(s) -
Merrick Elizabeth N.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of counseling and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1556-6676
pISSN - 0748-9633
DOI - 10.1002/j.1556-6676.1995.tb01750.x
Subject(s) - normative , perspective (graphical) , socioeconomic status , psychology , context (archaeology) , identity (music) , ecological psychology , social psychology , sociology , developmental psychology , gender studies , population , demography , geography , epistemology , philosophy , physics , archaeology , artificial intelligence , computer science , acoustics
Adolescent childbearing among lower socioeconomic‐status African American girls who are 16 to 21 years of age is a career choice and an alternative, normative life path within African American culture. Career choice is defined here to signify selection of a role through which one implements one's identity and which represents one's life work. This choice is first addressed from the perspective of vocational psychology and is then presented within two models of developmental psychology: the model of female development presented by Chodorow (1978) and Gilligan (1982) and the model of ecological human development by Bronfenbrenner (1977, 1988). These views incorporate a reassessment of the negative consequences of adolescent child‐bearing. Finally, implications for research and practice are suggested.