Aims: The overall aims were to study depressive symptoms among mothers and fathers in early parenthood and how depressive symptoms are related to dyadic consensus (DCS), sense of coherence (SOC), perceiving of the child temperament, separation within the couple and bonding to the infant. Methods: Study I-III was based on the BiT-study, a longitudinal project where 393 couples answered 3 questionnaires including instruments measuring DCS at one week after childbirth, depressive symptoms at 3 months and parental stress at 18 months after childbirth. Study IV was based on the UPPSAT-study, a population based cohort project, where 727 couples answered questionnaires measuring depressive symptoms at 6 weeks and 6 months after childbirth, and impaired bonding at 6 months after childbirth. Results: In the BiT-study, 17.7% of the mothers and 8.7% of the fathers scored depressive symptoms at 3 months after childbirth, using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) cut-off of ≥10. There was an association between depressive symptoms and less consensus (DCS), and the parents partly differed regarding which areas of their relationship they perceived that they disagreed about. Parents with depressive symptoms had a poorer SOC and perceived their child as more difficult than parents without depressive symptoms. Among the couples, 20% were separated 6-8 years after childbirth. Separation was associated with less dyadic consensus, more depressive symptoms and parental stress. In the UPPSAT-study, 15.3% of the mothers and 5.1% of the fathers scored depressive symptoms 6 weeks after childbirth, using the EPDS cut-off of ≥10. Further, there was an association between impaired bonding at 6 months and the parents’ depressive symptoms, as well as experience of deteriorated relationship with the spouse. Conclusions and clinical implications: Health professionals need the knowledge that depressive symptoms are common in both mother and fathers in early parenthood. It is also important to understand how depressive symptoms are associated to dyadic consensus, SOC, separation and impaired bonding in order to optimize conditions for the whole family. This knowledge is also important for the public, so those who are pregnant and new parents as well as the society are aware that there might be problems in early parenthood as depressive symptoms.

Bakgrund: Graviditet och tidigt moderskap är perioder då kvinnor aktivt söker ny kunskap. Tillgången till hälsorelaterad information är enorm men kvaliteten på innehållet varierar mellan olika källor. För att kunna göra informerade val i hälsofrågor behöver mödrar evidensbaserad information, och det är en barnmorskas ansvar att kunna guida dem till högkvalitativa källor. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att kartlägga nyblivna mödrars informationssökning samt att undersöka om det finns samband mellan informationssökning och olika sociodemografiska bakgrundsvariabler. Metod: Undersökningen baserades på delar av en pilotstudie inför ett större europeiskt projekt och data från 137 enkäter till nyblivna mödrar analyserades. Resultat: De mest använda informationskällorna bland mödrarna var barnavårdscentral och vårdsidor på Internet, således källor som tillhandahåller evidensbaserad information. Nästan lika populärt var dock att vända sig till familj och vänner och till Internetforum, där kvaliteten på informationen kan variera och ibland skapa missförstånd och oro. Slutsats: Barnmorskor bör därför hålla sig uppdaterade på det informationsflöde som finns, känna till vilka informationskällor deras patienter använder och vilken typ av information de hämtar. De bör också kunna guida sina patienter till högkvalitativ information. / Background: Pregnancy and early motherhood are periods when women are actively seeking new knowledge. The public access to health information is enormous but the quality of the content varies between different sources. To make informed health choices, mothers need evidence-based information, and midwives have a responsibility to guide them to highqualitative sources. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore new mothers’ information seeking and to investigate the relationship between information seeking and various sociodemographic background variables. Method: The study was based on parts of a pilot study prior to a wider European project, and data from 137 questionnaires to new mothers were analysed. Results: The most frequently used sources of information among the mothers were childcare centres and health sites on the Internet, thus sources that provide evidence-based information. Almost as popular was, however, to turn to family / friends and to Internet forums, where the quality of information can vary and sometimes create confusion and anxiety. Conclusion: Midwives should therefore stay updated on the predominant flow of information, know which sources of information their patients are using and what type of information they obtain. They should also be able to guide their patients to high-quality information.

A multitude of research exists examining the relationship between religion and early marriage, yet little research has focused on the relationship between religion and early childbearing. Even less has examined the influence of adolescent religion on early parenthood. Using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion, I examined the relationship between religion in adolescence and parenthood outcomes in early adulthood. I focus on how religiosity in adolescence shapes whether an individual is more or less likely to be sexually active, become pregnant, and/or have and keep a child. Results suggest that those who are religious in adolescence are less likely to have children early because of the postponement of sexual debut.

Malgré la diversité des recherches sur la parentalité adolescente, l'analyse des trajectoires parentales et des facteurs qui peuvent moduler l'effet de cet événement sur la scolarité demeure peu documentée. C'est précisément sur cet aspect que se penche la présente étude. L'objectif général de ce mémoire est de voir dans quelle mesure les différentes trajectoires adoptées par les jeunes parents sont associées à l’obtention des diplômes scolaires. Évidemment, les parents adolescents forment un groupe qui est plus à risque de ne pas avoir obtenu de diplôme secondaire vers 20 ans. Cependant, nous soutenons que la trajectoire parentale est différente pour chaque individu et qu'elle peut modifier la probabilité d’obtention des diplômes secondaire et postsecondaire. Les résultats des analyses de régression sur les données de l'Enquête auprès des jeunes en transition nous montrent que ce n’est pas le simple fait d’être parent qui influe sur la scolarité des jeunes, mais plutôt le type de trajectoires scolaires empruntées par ces derniers. Ainsi, certaines trajectoires parentales moins stables et plus précoces ont plus d’impact sur la non obtention d’un diplôme d’études secondaire, que les trajectoires parentales stables, qu’il s’agisse de monoparentalité ou de famille cohabitante. La précocité est donc un facteur d’influence différencié selon le type de parcours conjugal. De plus, nous observons que cette association entre certaines trajectoires parentales et l’obtention d’un diplôme s’observe également chez les hommes même si le type de trajectoire parentale est globalement moins explicatif que pour les femmes. Finalement, les variables reliées à la performance scolaire à 15 ans médiatisent en partie l’impact des trajectoires parentales sur le statut scolaire à 23 ans, ce qui suggère que l’association peut s’interpréter aussi comme un effet de la scolarité sur la parentalité. / Although many studies on teenage parenthood have been realized, little research examined the effect of parental trajectories on school graduation. The aim of this study is to better understand how teen parents' life trajectories influenced the probability of getting a diploma. Obviously, young parents have higher risk of not being graduated of high school before their 20 years old. However, we support that teen parents' life trajectories are different for each. In consequence the probability of getting a diploma can be modified. Based on data from the Youth in Transition Survey collected between 2000 and 2007, our results from regression analyses suggest that the simple fact of being a teenage parent does not explain all consequences on school graduation. The probability of getting a diploma would rather be influenced by teen parents' life trajectories. Additionally, results suggest that instable and early parenthood contribute to the likelihood of not being graduated at 23 years old. Our result shows that early parenthood has to be analyzed differently and a combination between precocity and instability help to better understand the effects of adolescent parenthood on diplomation. An association between academic performances at 15 years old and the level of education at 23 years old was also found, which may explain why this association may influences the probability of getting a diploma.

Malgré la diversité des recherches sur la parentalité adolescente, l'analyse des trajectoires parentales et des facteurs qui peuvent moduler l'effet de cet événement sur la scolarité demeure peu documentée. C'est précisément sur cet aspect que se penche la présente étude. L'objectif général de ce mémoire est de voir dans quelle mesure les différentes trajectoires adoptées par les jeunes parents sont associées à l’obtention des diplômes scolaires. Évidemment, les parents adolescents forment un groupe qui est plus à risque de ne pas avoir obtenu de diplôme secondaire vers 20 ans. Cependant, nous soutenons que la trajectoire parentale est différente pour chaque individu et qu'elle peut modifier la probabilité d’obtention des diplômes secondaire et postsecondaire. Les résultats des analyses de régression sur les données de l'Enquête auprès des jeunes en transition nous montrent que ce n’est pas le simple fait d’être parent qui influe sur la scolarité des jeunes, mais plutôt le type de trajectoires scolaires empruntées par ces derniers. Ainsi, certaines trajectoires parentales moins stables et plus précoces ont plus d’impact sur la non obtention d’un diplôme d’études secondaire, que les trajectoires parentales stables, qu’il s’agisse de monoparentalité ou de famille cohabitante. La précocité est donc un facteur d’influence différencié selon le type de parcours conjugal. De plus, nous observons que cette association entre certaines trajectoires parentales et l’obtention d’un diplôme s’observe également chez les hommes même si le type de trajectoire parentale est globalement moins explicatif que pour les femmes. Finalement, les variables reliées à la performance scolaire à 15 ans médiatisent en partie l’impact des trajectoires parentales sur le statut scolaire à 23 ans, ce qui suggère que l’association peut s’interpréter aussi comme un effet de la scolarité sur la parentalité. / Although many studies on teenage parenthood have been realized, little research examined the effect of parental trajectories on school graduation. The aim of this study is to better understand how teen parents' life trajectories influenced the probability of getting a diploma. Obviously, young parents have higher risk of not being graduated of high school before their 20 years old. However, we support that teen parents' life trajectories are different for each. In consequence the probability of getting a diploma can be modified. Based on data from the Youth in Transition Survey collected between 2000 and 2007, our results from regression analyses suggest that the simple fact of being a teenage parent does not explain all consequences on school graduation. The probability of getting a diploma would rather be influenced by teen parents' life trajectories. Additionally, results suggest that instable and early parenthood contribute to the likelihood of not being graduated at 23 years old. Our result shows that early parenthood has to be analyzed differently and a combination between precocity and instability help to better understand the effects of adolescent parenthood on diplomation. An association between academic performances at 15 years old and the level of education at 23 years old was also found, which may explain why this association may influences the probability of getting a diploma.