School
School of Public Health
Document Type
Dissertation
Department (new version)
Public Health
Date of Award
1990
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) School of Public Health
Abstract
The present investigation uses the 1958 National Child Development Study of Great Britain to examine the antecedents of teen fatherhood. Teen fathers are compared to non-teen fathers (those who fathered a child between 20 and 23) and non-fathers (no child by 23), matched and unmatched to teen fathers for social class. Contrary to hypotheses regarding family background, teen fathers (boys who became fathers while in their teens) were no more likely than those who did not father children before their 23rd birthday to come from homes marked by parental separation, divorce, and death. With respect to personal behaviors, teen fathers were much more likely than non-fathers unmatched for social class to be aggressive, destroy property, steal, and play truant. Social class played an important part in influencing such behaviors. Indeed, a career of deviancy marks the lives of boys who father children before their 23rd birthday. Teen fathers also experience a number of educational difficulties prior to the onset of parenthood. In fact, teen fathers were 11.5 times more likely than unmatched non-fathers and 8 times more likely than non-fathers matched for social class to leave school at 16, the minimum age. And by age 7, boys who became teen fathers were already 2 to 3 times more likely than non-fathers to be of limited ability in reading, math, and other subjects, according to teachers. Parental disinterest plays a large part in determining boys' later life chances. Boys who became teen fathers were consistently discouraged (at ages 7, 11, and 16) to leave school by the minimum age. Furthermore, the majority of teen fathers' parents rarely instigated discussions with teachers about their academic progress. In sum, a number of factors, including aggression, theft, vandalism, truancy, and educational difficulty, may be important in identifying boys at-risk for becoming teen fathers. Because these behaviors are related, interventions designed to prevent teen fatherhood may also help reduce the incidence of misconduct as well. However, the success of such programs will be due, in large part, to parents' active involvement in the lives of their children.
ProQuest Publication Number
ProQuest ID
9113588
ISBN
9798535511504
Recommended Citation
Dearden, Kirk Allen, "Life experience and teen fatherhood in Great Britain" (1990). All ETDs from UAB. 7168.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/7168
Comments
DrPH