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March 3, 2008Depression Linked to Subsequent Pregnancy in Black Teens |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: African American adolescent mothers who have symptoms of depression may be more likely to have a subsequent pregnancy within two years of giving birth, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Studies indicate that teen mothers are twice as likely to experience depression as adult mothers with almost twice as many African American teen mothers affected compared with white teen mothers, according to background information in the article. Rapid subsequent pregnancy (occurring within 24 months of a birth) is common in young mothers. Depression and subsequent pregnancy are associated with parenting stress and negative parenting behaviors such as child abuse and neglect. Questionnaires were completed one or two years after childbirth to measure depressive symptoms and occurrence of subsequent pregnancy. A pregnancy within two years of childbirth was experienced by 120 (49 percent) of the 245 teens followed up through two years and 28 (10 percent) had more than one subsequent pregnancy. "Teens having a subsequent pregnancy were more likely to be school dropouts; not use condoms consistently at follow-up; and report a relationship with their baby's father, who tended to be older," the authors write. Depressive symptoms were associated with a 44 percent increase in risk of subsequent pregnancy. Editor's Note: This study was supported by grants from the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and from an AAMC/CDC Cooperative Agreement. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
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