Mental health of adolescent mothers: the implications of depression and drug use.

Childbearing and child rearing during adolescence result in poor health and psychosocial outcomes for some mothers and their children. Whereas the mental health problems of adolescent mothers are common in clinical experience, they are infrequently investigated and discussed in the literature. Mental health problems such as depression and/or drug use may be key factors in determining which mothers and their children will have poor outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to explore how depression and drug use may affect the health and development of adolescent mothers and their children. Because of their relevance to adolescent motherhood, this paper brings together information from three research areas: adolescent depression, adolescent drug use, and maternal depression.