The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #45502

Louise H. Flick, RN, DrPH¹, Cynthia A. Loveland Cook, PhD², Sharon M. Homan, PhD³, Claudia Campbell, PhD⁴, Maryellen McSweeney, PhD⁵, Nujjaree Nettip, RN, MS⁶, Lisa Parnell, MSW⁷, and Mary Elizabeth Gallagher, PhD⁷. (1) Schools of Nursing and Public Health, St. Louis University, 3525 Caroline Mall, St. Louis, MO 63104, 314-577-8992, flicklh@slu.edu, (2) School of Social Service, Saint Louis University, 3550 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63103, (3) School of Public Health, St. Louis University, 3545 Lafayette, St. Louis, MO 63104, (4) School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, 3545 Layfayette, St. Louis, MO 63104, (5) School of Nursing, St. Louis Unviersity, 3525 Caroline Mall, St. Louis, MO 631-4, (6) School of Nursing, Saint Louis University, 3525 Caroline St., St. Louis, MO 63104, (7) School of Social Service, St. Louis University, Tegeler Hall, Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63104

Women who begin childbearing in adolescence have more psychosocial distress before pregnancy than those who start later, but do they have more psychopathology? We compare women who began childrearing in adolescence with older mothers using DSM-IV psychiatric diagnoses rather than symptoms. A standardized psychiatric interview (DIS-IV) was used to assess 19 different diagnoses to determine if being under 19 years old at first birth is associated with having a disorder. Using cross-sectional data, we evaluate 527 Medicaid-eligible pregnant women stratified by urban/rural residence and race who were seen at WIC nutrition sites. Fifty-eight percent had a lifetime disorder, and 29% had a current (past year) disorder. Forty-one percent were under 19 when their first child was born although half of these mothers were pregnant with a second or third child at the pregnancy interview. Logistic regression was used to test the hypotheses that first birth in adolescence is associated with greater risk of having any lifetime or current psychiatric disorder; controlling for race, urban/rural residence and parity. Mothers who were under 19 at their first birth were 1.5 times (95% CI 1.05, 2.24) more likely to have a current psychiatric diagnosis than older mothers but no more likely to have a lifetime disorder. Current disorders with higher prevalence in mothers with adolescent first births include depressive episodes and PTSD. This study indicates that mothers with adolescent births are more likely than those starting later to meet criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis during pregnancy even when they are no longer adolescents.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe existing evidence that early childbearing is associated with prior pschosocial distress.
• Evaluate new evidence suggesting that psychiatric disorder is more prevalent among women who bear children in adolesence than in older mothers.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Pregnancy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.