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Author: Shepelak, Norma J.
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Dixon, Megan M.
Karnehm, Amy Lynn
Shepelak, Norma J.
Adolescent Repeat Births: A Role Conflict/Status Attainment Model
Presented: Toronto, Canada, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1997
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Births, Repeat / Spacing; Contraception; Education; Mothers, Education; Sex Education

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

In the past thirty years societal interest in unwed adolescent pregnancies has grown. While much research has documented the nature and extent of early teenage pregnancies, there has been less development of theoretical models integrating the psychological and structural factors that explain this social phenomenon. In this study a status attainment model of adolescent repeat births is developed and tested. The model is unique in that it analyzes adolescent motherhood as an important symbolic status. Adolescents may seek to attain this status in the absence of alternative legitimate avenues of success - income and education. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (Center for Human Resource Research 1995), we test this model. Of the 160 unwed women in this sample who had given birth before their twentieth birthday, 84 had a second birth within a five year period. There was no significant difference between teens who had a repeat birth and those who did not for the following variables: race, residence, number of siblings or adolescent's mother's education.

A multivariate model of repeat births was developed integrating contraceptive behaviors, education and income. All three factors were directly related to repeat births at the p<.05 level of significance. Specifically, teens who used effective methods of contraception were less likely to have a repeat birth. Repeat births were also less likely to occur among adolescents with more years of schooling. Likewise, young mothers whose families had relatively high incomes were more likely to avoid a repeat birth.

This study provides social scientists and policy makers with evidence that psychological and structural factors of our society may be encouraging teens to bear children. While supporting effective contraceptive behaviors is necessary, teens also need motivation to use contraceptives. Equitable distribution of income and educational opportunities may provide adolescent girls with legitimate means to attaining status, and thus motivate them to use effective contraceptive techniques for the prevention of subsequent pregnancies.

Bibliography Citation
Dixon, Megan M., Amy Lynn Karnehm and Norma J. Shepelak. "Adolescent Repeat Births: A Role Conflict/Status Attainment Model." Presented: Toronto, Canada, Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1997.
2. Karnehm, Amy Lynn
Shepelak, Norma J.
Meaning of Motherhood: Testing a Sociocultural Model of Identity Transformation
Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Divorce; Family Studies; Marriage; Motherhood; Parenthood; Women's Roles

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

Because the meaning of being a mother & wife is no longer central to a woman's identity, yet still involves being primary emotional caregiver as well as an economic provider, women's identities have taken on multiple role saliences (Stryker, 1968; McCall & Simmons, 1978). Martha McMahon's (1995) landmark qualitative study on engendered motherhood sought to understand the sociocultural dynamics that affect a woman's identity transformation into "mother." Here, this model is tested using data from the 1994 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (subsample N = 244). Initial results indicate differences by social class groupings in terms of both readiness for & the responsibility of motherhood for full-time workers.
Bibliography Citation
Karnehm, Amy Lynn and Norma J. Shepelak. "Meaning of Motherhood: Testing a Sociocultural Model of Identity Transformation." Presented: Chicago, IL, American Sociological Association Annual Meetings, August 1999.