A study of attitudes and support systems of inner city adolescent mothers.

Because the simultaneous demands of adolescence and motherhood could result in special infant rearing attitudes and concerns, a prospective pilot study of inner city adolescent mothers was undertaken. A sample of primiparous adolescent mothers was compared with primiparous and multiparous nonadolescent mothers. Data were collected by home interviews at two weeks and three months postpartum. The major hypothesis, that the simultaneous occurrence of adolescence and motherhood would result in special infant rearing attitudes, concerns, and support systems which interfered with mothering, was not fully supported by our findings. Few of the adolescent mothers were married (8%) but of those not married, most (95%) lived in an extended family. Adolescent mothers, when compared with older mothers, were more likely to seek medical advice from their mothers as opposed to health professionals and were more insecure in their maternal self-image if caretaking was shared. Attitudinal differences around feeding were seen, but attitudes about spoiling, perception of the baby's behavior, discipline, caretaking, and enjoyment were the same among groups. Adolescent mothers and their infants provide physicians and other child health professional with a special pediatric family. The differences in available support systems and maternal self-image suggest areas for further investigation.