The unwed pregnant teenager and her male relationship.

A group of 100 primiparas, 17 years of age and younger, were interviewed one to three days postpartum. From these interviews, the quality of the relationship between the patient and the father of the newborn child was scored in three categories. Contrary to popular opinion about illegitimacy, it was found that in the majority of cases a good, continuing relationship was maintained throughout the pregnancy, despite the fact that 97% of the patients were unmarried. Fully 84% of the fathers of the unborn children has ongoing contacts with the patients; 68% of the fathers reported that they liked the idea of having the baby, whereas only 9% disliked the pregnancies. The relationship scores were compared with the occurrence of complications in the patient's labor and delivery. Statistical analyses revealed that the relationship between the teenage obstetric patient and the father of her child was not associated with the occurrence of complications in the patient's labor and delivery. However, trends indicate a possible association between these two variables.