Educationally Disadvantaged Older Youth: Family Formation

Early childbearing is often related to socioeconomic disadvantages (Maynard, 1997; Moore et al., 1993), hence postponing pregnancy is part of healthy family formation. Three programs for older youths offer services designed to postpone pregnancy (NC, NHV, TPD). In addition, a program that did not state postponing pregnancy as a goal also measured pregnancy outcomes (JC). Results are mixed. When looked at in aggregate, participants in the Nurse Home Visitation Program were not less likely than youths in the control group to have a subsequent pregnancy at the 22-month and 46-month follow-ups (NHV4). However there were differences for poor, unmarried participants, who averaged .58 pregnancies to the control group's 1.02 over 46 months (NHV1). As with NHVP, participants in New Chance were more likely to have a subsequent pregnancy within a shorter time period than youths in the control group, and the program had no impact on number of births (NC1). With the exception of one site, the Teenage Parent Demonstration had no impact on pregnancy rates (TPD1, TPD2). In that site, program participants had fewer births and pregnancies than the control group (TPD2). Programs with employment as a goal did not affect pregnancy. Participants in Job Corps did not differ from their peers in control groups in terms of living with a partner (JC1), having a child (JC1), or living with a child (JC1, JC2).