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Author: Cole-Lewis, Heather
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Sipsma, Heather L.
Biello, Katie Brooks
Cole-Lewis, Heather
Kershaw, Trace
Like Father, Like Son: The Intergenerational Cycle of Adolescent Fatherhood
American Journal of Public Health 100,3 (March 2010): 517-524
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Public Health Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Sexual Activity; Dating; Delinquency/Gang Activity; Ethnic Groups/Ethnicity; Fatherhood; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Mothers, Education; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Racial Studies; Risk-Taking

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Objectives. Strong evidence exists to support an intergenerational cycle of adolescent fatherhood, yet such a cycle has not been studied. We examined whether paternal adolescent fatherhood (i.e., father of study participant was age 19 years or younger when his first child was born) and other factors derived from the ecological systems theory predicted participant adolescent fatherhood.

Methods. Data included 1496 young males who were interviewed annually from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. Cox regression survival analysis was used to determine the effect of paternal adolescent fatherhood on participant adolescent fatherhood.

Results. Sons of adolescent fathers were 1.8 times more likely to become adolescent fathers than were sons of older fathers, after other risk factors were accounted for. Additionally, factors from each ecological domain-individual (delinquency), family (maternal education), peer (early adolescent dating), and environment (race/ethnicity, physical risk environment)-were independent predictors of adolescent fatherhood.

Conclusions. These findings support the need for pregnancy prevention interventions specifically designed for young males who may be at high risk for continuing this cycle. Interventions that address multiple levels of risk will likely be most successful at reducing pregnancies among partners of young men.

Bibliography Citation
Sipsma, Heather L., Katie Brooks Biello, Heather Cole-Lewis and Trace Kershaw. "Like Father, Like Son: The Intergenerational Cycle of Adolescent Fatherhood." American Journal of Public Health 100,3 (March 2010): 517-524 .