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High Risk Pregnancies: Teenagers, Poverty, and Drug Abuse

NCJ Number
169912
Journal
Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 27 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1997) Pages: 541-562
Author(s)
J Waters; A R Roberts; K Morgen
Date Published
1997
Length
22 pages
Annotation
Sixteen women who had been pregnant as teenagers and had graduated from a drug treatment program and 14 undergraduate and graduate students who had been pregnant as teenagers were interviewed to learn their experiences and the risk factors that affect their lives and vulnerabilities.
Abstract
The research took place in New Jersey. It was prompted by the need to design effective prevention program to address adolescent pregnancy, drug abuse, and poverty and to prevent cognitive deficits, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, and other problems in their children. Participants included 27 black women, 2 white women, and 1 Puerto Rican woman. They were currently between ages 17 and 56 years and both been pregnant as teenagers and used drugs during their teen years. Information was collected by means of detailed interviews conducted by a female researcher, a female counselor, or trained graduate students. Results yielded a surprising commonalty of experiences for both groups. The experiences included childhood physical and sexual abuse; coercive adolescent sexual relationships; early first sexual contact; early first pregnancies, often as a function of rape or incest; abortions; and drug dependence, especially during pregnancy. Findings demonstrated that very early pregnancy remains an issue and that drug abuse and poverty influence women to maintain relationships with drug dealers and to engage in prostitution as a way of supporting themselves and their children. Findings also suggested that even future declines in adolescent pregnancy, drug addiction, and early sexual and physical abuse will leave lasting consequences for schools, the health care system, and the juvenile justice system, because these systems will all need to address the problems of children born to teenage pregnancies. 60 references