This study investigated the relationships among family environment, demographic measures, the decisions made by unintentionally pregnant adolescents regarding post-delivery plans (stay single, get married, adoption), and the certainty with which these decisions were made. The Information Sheet, Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1981), and Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (Zuckerman & Lubin, 1965a) were administered to 17 5 pregnant adolescents, ages 14 through 22, who intended to carry their pregnancies to term. Pearson product-moment correlations and multiple regression analyses were utilized to assess the relationships between family environment and certainty of decision and between family environment and negative affect. Greater uncertainty was associated with nonwhite racial status and living with both natural parents or mother only. Higher levels of negative affect were related to lower levels of perceived family cohesion, independence, expressiveness, and intellectualcultural orientation. The demographic variables of age, trimester of pregnancy, and family constellation were also found to be useful in predicting levels of negative affect. Subjects who were older, further along in their pregnancies, and living with both natural parents or mother only tended to report greater negative affect. Findings of greater uncertainty and negative affect associated with living with the natural mother are consistent with previous reports of disturbed mother-daughter relationships among this population.
Discriminant analysis revealed that subjects choosing adoption were more likely to be older and to be white than those choosing to keep the child. They also tended to perceive higher levels of expressiveness and independence in their families. Comparisons between the present sample and "normal" families revealed differences which were statistically significant, but quite small in terms of raw score units. Indeed, these groups may be more similar than has often been assumed. The implications of these findings for the delivery of services and for future research efforts in this area were discussed. More intensive assessment of family functioning is needed. Based upon present results, further investigation of the family constellation variable is warranted.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc331841 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Warren, Keith Clements |
| Contributors | Johnson, Ray W., Lopez, Frederick G., Oveton, Thomas D. |
| Publisher | North Texas State University |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | iv, 107 leaves, Text |
| Rights | Public, Warren, Keith Clements, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. |
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