Pregnant Adolescents' Family Formation and Perceived Partner Supportiveness in Early Pregnancy and Postpartum

This study examined the impact of a prenatal program on pregnant adolescents’ family formation and perceptions of partner support.  The sample included 173 predominantly minority pregnant adolescents ages 15 to 18 who were enrolled in a prenatal program and followed one month postpartum.  Pregnant adolescents were assigned to either an intervention group utilizing Centering Pregnancy (CP) prenatal care and case management, or to a comparison group receiving case management only.  Subjects provided information about their education, marital status, socioeconomic level and sources of material and financial support.   Family formation included living and relationship arrangements. Perceived partner support included several aspects of emotional and financial support.  Chi-square, t-tests and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to measure changes in family formation and perceived partner support over time.  There were several statistically significant changes within family formation between program entry and one month postpartum. There were no significant differences in perceived partner support for participants whose partners did and did not attend sessions.  However, participants reported significantly more perceived support from their partners at both baseline and postpartum when their partners attended at least one session than partners who did not attend any sessions. As a significant number of male partners are present at the beginning of pregnancy, working with couples prenatally to enhance relationships can be promising.  Given the enormous social costs associated with teen pregnancy, it is very important to identify, and then invest in, innovative strategies to improve the health and welfare of young mothers and their children.