Teen Mothers’ Family Support and Adult Identity in the Emerging Adulthood: Implications for Socioeconomic Attainment Later in Life

We examined the prospective role of parental support and adult identity profiles in the transition to adulthood on teen mothers’ socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood. Analyses were based on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally representative sample of youth foll...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEmerging adulthood (Thousand Oaks, CA) Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 161 - 172
Main Authors Assini-Meytin, Luciana C., Garza, Mary A., Green, Kerry M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.02.2022
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Adolescent mothers
Adults
Family support
Identity
Life transitions
Longitudinal studies
Maturation
Parents & parenting
Psychosocial factors
Socioeconomic factors
Subjective age
social support
adult identity profiles
teen parenting
longitudinal study
adolescent health
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Summary:We examined the prospective role of parental support and adult identity profiles in the transition to adulthood on teen mothers’ socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood. Analyses were based on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally representative sample of youth followed over a decade. We used data from Waves 1, 3, and 4 (mean age = 28.6, Wave 4). Analytical sample consisted of 981 females who gave birth before age 20. Analysis included design-based regression models. Findings from adjusted regression models showed no statistically significant associations between teen mothers’ parental support and socioeconomic outcomes. While teen mothers have already achieved an important marker of adulthood, variability in adult identity profiles was observed. Teen mothers with older subjective age, regardless of their levels of psychosocial maturation, had higher socioeconomic attainment on some indicators. Findings suggest that teen mothers’ adult identity profiles differentiate their socioeconomic trajectories later in life.
ISSN:2167-6968
2167-6984
DOI:10.1177/2167696819879251