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When teens have children, both the mother and child suffer negative consequences. Teen mothers often lack the appropriate parenting skills needed to cope with the stresses of parenthood, particularly if they lack support from either the father of their child or their family. Often, the demands of fulfilling a parental role interfere with the teen mother's opportunity for developing peer relationships as well as her own sense of identity. These experiences are crucial to the development of adolescents. Infants born to teenage mothers tend to have lower birth weights, higher rates of premature delivery, and higher rates of infant mortality. As they grow older, these children are more likely to be injured or become ill, have academic and behavioral pro blems in school, and become teenage parents themselves. |
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