• 229-01 - Family Context Promotes Teen Moms’ Parenting Knowledge and Child Outcomes
  Presented by: Laudan Jahromi, Amy Guimond, Adriana Umana-Taylor, Kimberly Updegraff, Russell Toomey
• 229-02 - Teen Pregnancy Attitudes, Co-parenting, and Teen Moms’ Depressive Symptoms
  Presented by: Diamond Bravo, Adriana Umana-Taylor, Amy Guimond, Kimbery Updegraff, Lauden Jahromi
• 229-03 - Person-Environment Fit: Co-parenting in Mexican-origin Teen Mother Families
  Presented by: Chelsea Derlan, Adriana Umana-Taylor, Amy Guimond, Russell Toomey, Kimberly Updegraff, Laudan Jahromi

Abstracts

Family Context Promotes Teen Moms’ Parenting Knowledge and Child Outcomes

Presented by: Laudan Jahromi, Amy Guimond, Adriana Umana-Taylor, Kimberly Updegraff, Russell Toomey

This study examined family contextual factors related to parenting knowledge in Mexican-origin adolescent mothers (N = 191) and their toddlers' subsequent developmental outcomes.  Data consisted of home interviews of adolescents and their mother-figures, and direct assessments of toddlers' cognitive ability.  Mother figures' instrumental support positively related to adolescents' knowledge accuracy, whereas mothers' emotional support related to lower adolescent knowledge confidence.  While maternal control negatively predicted adolescents' knowledge accuracy, autonomy granting from mother figures positively predicted adolescent knowledge confidence.  Finally, adolescents' knowledge accuracy positively predicted increases in toddlers' cognitive ability. Discussion will highlight intervention implications for teenage mothers.

Teen Pregnancy Attitudes, Co-parenting, and Teen Moms’ Depressive Symptoms

Presented by: Diamond Bravo, Adriana Umana-Taylor, Amy Guimond, Kimbery Updegraff, Lauden Jahromi

The current longitudinal study examined the extent to which Mexican-origin adolescent mothers’ and their mother figures’ attitudes toward teen pregnancy (N=200 dyads) predicted characteristics of the adolescent/mother coparenting relationship (i.e., interaction and conflict), and how the coparenting relationship, in turn, informed adolescent mothers’ mental health (i.e. depressive symptoms). Findings indicated that adolescents’ attitudes towards teen pregnancy informed their perceptions of coparenting conflict, which in turn informed their depressive symptoms. Adolescents’ attitudes also informed their own and their mother figures’ reports of coparenting interaction. Findings are discussed with attention to possibilities for interventions and future research.

Person-Environment Fit: Co-parenting in Mexican-origin Teen Mother Families

Presented by: Chelsea Derlan, Adriana Umana-Taylor, Amy Guimond, Russell Toomey, Kimberly Updegraff, Laudan Jahromi

The current study examined how the fit between adolescents' cultural orientation (i.e., acculturation/enculturation typology) and teen mother-grandmother cultural processes influenced co-parenting and adolescent adjustment over time in a sample 204 Mexican-origin teen mothers and grandmothers. Findings indicated that ethnic socialization was significantly and positively associated with increased co-parenting conflict for acculturated and bicultural adolescents, but not for enculturated adolescents. Findings suggest that when teen mothers' cultural orientation involved strong orientation toward mainstream culture (i.e., acculturated and bicultural groups), familial ethnic socialization led to more co-parenting conflict. Findings underscore the complex relations among cultural orientation, cultural processes, and co-parenting.