Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ximena Lopez
Teenage Fatherhood
Carla Franklin
4-18-2017
Teenage Fathers 2
Introduction
This paper will focus on the impact of teenage pregnancy. Specifically, on teenage men,
who are often forgotten and overlooked. Many of the research regarding teen pregnancy often
only focus solely on the mother and the father is rarely mentioned. Having a baby at any age
comes with many changes for example a persons emotional state, responsibilities, and
occasionally their social circle is affected as well. Throughout my research I would know; how
does having a baby affect teenage boys emotional state? Does having baby help them mature
mentally or emotionally at a faster rate than their peers without a child? I am also curious to
know if they had guidance prior to being sexually active, during the pregnancy, and after the
child was born. Additionally, an important factor to discover would be what teenagers are more
This is an important subject due to the fact that we tend to overlook teenage boys whom
might be going through difficult times after finding out they are going to become a father.
Teenage boys should be able to have the same resources as teenage girls who are pregnant. I
dont think it healthy for a young man to deal with his fears of becoming a father alone. There
should be more support groups, classes, and sexual education in schools, in order to prevent
unplanned pregnancies.
This is an important subject for people who are studying the field of human development.
The reason why I believe is an important factor because Having key information gives us a better
idea as what programs we should develop in order to help young men not become fathers at a
young age, and to help young fathers be part of their childs life and how to continue their
personal growth.
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Literature Review
As I started doing research on teenage fathers I noticed there was a very limited amount
of information. Many of the articles that I did come across only mention the mother and the
baby, very little was mention about the father. Mindy Scott, Nicole Steward, Jennifer Malove
and Kristin Mooren express the same concern at the beginning of their research paper titled, The
Characteristics and Circumstances of Teen fathers: At the Birth of Their Child and Beyond. They
state, Research and policy in the United States have focused so much more on teen mother than
teen father. Horald Buss, Tyler Guise, Tony Scanlan, and Terry Voice also mention such
concern in the article, The Support Needs of Teenage Fathers. They state If there is any group
that appears to be completely absent from their childrens life it is that of teenage
fathersteenage pregnancy almost inevitably seems to lead to sole motherhood and secretly
tends to blame the young men themselves: after having caused a pregnancy they flee from the
responsibility.
They claim Research found that teenage fathers were not always as keen to avoid
responsibility as is generally thought by society, that they were often very enthusiastic about the
prospect of becoming an involved parent. Wanting to learn how to do the job properly. (Father
and Child 2008) Even though the dad wants to be involved there are different factors that cause
separation as the child gets older. 18 months after the birth, 87 % of the teenage parents lived
One of the main reasons fathers stop visiting their baby is because they had trouble with
the mother of the child. The most common reason given by the father not having more contact
with their children was the mothers reluctance to let them, or problems in their relationship.
(Father and Child 2008) According to the experts another factor was the responsibility
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expectations. Unrealistic expectation and the inability to combine the developmental tasks of
adolescent with the responsibilities of fatherhood increase their vulnerability to parenting failure.
According to experts being a father at a younger age comes with many negative
consequences. Shay Bilchik states Teen Fatherhood has many negative educational, financial,
social, health and other developmental consequence for those young men and their children.
(Belchik 2000) He continues, Boys who become teenage fathers are also likely to engage in
disruptive school behavior and drug use. (Belchik 2000) As we could see Bilchick points out
teenage fathers are not only effected emotionally but in many other ways that lead to severe
negative behavior, such as drug use, health issues, and their education might also be affected.
According to Jason M Fletcher and Bordona L. Wolfe in a study called The effects of teenage
Fatherhood on Young Adult Outcomes they inform us that, Generally we find evidence that
teenage fatherhood shifts education outcomes by decreasing years of schooling and the
likelihood of receiving a high school diploma and increasing general educational development
(GED) receipt. (2011) Fletcher and Wolfe provide a table that shows the percentage of a male
high school graduates who had children, along with male teenagers who were expecting a baby
and those who were not link in any way to teen pregnancy. The results are as follows, results
suggest that the negative effects of teenage fatherhood are heterogeneous between those
categories of individuals. Males who reported using birth control have smaller estimate
educational consequence, are more likely to get married and show no significant income
difference. These males also are less likely to be idle and are more likely to be employed full and
in military. Males who reported not using birth control complete fewer years of schooling and
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experience large shifts between receiving a high school diploma and a GED. These men also are
more likely to idle. While the results are not statistically significant, these males may have
As previously mentioned, teenage fathers are more likely to involve in negative behavior.
Monica Leander, Oniony Mitchell, and Erica E Contes study multiple forms of data to
investigate if being a teen father really lead to negative behavior such as delinquency or does it
Delinquency Youth. Lander Mitchell and Contest argue that having a child could be a positive
conceivable that delinquent behavior compounded with an untimely fatherhood status make it
increasingly difficult for young males to successfully transition into adulthood. Despite this
correlation, relatively little is known about the influence that fatherhood has on delinquent
offenders. Research on delinquent adolescent fathers has largely ignored the possibility positive
affect that fatherhood poses for this subpopulation. Consistent with the life course perspective, it
is possible that investment into the role of a father may not as protective factor against farther
delinquent behavior. Research conducted by Lemay, suggest that indolent with children may
help to promote psychological will-being for the father. As we could see this research focuses
on your teenager that already are involved in delinquent behavior. The publisher believes that
children are a motivation for teenage father to get away from delinquent behavior. Unfortunately,
As I started this research paper one of my biggest question was who are the most
vulnerable teenager to become fathers and at such a young age? According to a research done
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by Child Trends in 2012 Young men between the ages of 12 and 16 in 1996 became father
before their twentieth birthday. This research was done by asking a group of father to
participate in a questioner. In this research the publisher also focuses on the ethnicity and family
conditions. According to Biochip, Research has shown that African Americans teenagers are
more likely to be fathers than are white or Hispanic teenager. Additionally, teen fatherhood has
been empirically associated with boys who come from impoverished families and neighborhoods
and with those who engage in delinquency and other problem behavior. () Another reason why
teenage boys become fathers at such a young age is due to the lack of resources. According to
Robert Becker, Facilities that are reaching out to men often find their male services
underutilized. Many times, services for men are housed in setting where staff lacks training in
male sexuality and sexual health. Where provide attitudes about mens involvement in
reproductive health may compromise the quality of service delivery and the environment itself.
The dcor to the informational and educational materials may not reflect mens interest or
needs. (Becker)
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Mythology
When I stared this research paper I had no Idea I was going to do it on Teenage
pregnancy but with a focus on the male part. The reason why I decided to focus on this topic was
due to a conversation I had with one of my friend Edward. As we were talking we got to the
subject of kids. Thats when he shared how he felt a lone and scared when he found out about his
girlfriend being pregnant. I stared asking him question like who were you able to talk to, what
where your feelings, and what was the main reason why he drop out of school. After he share his
answers with me, I decided to do some research online. To my surprise there was not a lot of
research that provided information on the teenage father. The majority of the research I came
across with focus only on the mother and the child. It seems like the teenage father was not taken
library website, and I was able to get articles that only focus on the teenage father. Getting recent
articles was the problem. Many of the articles where not recent they were done a few years back.
I was able to find more articles through google that were more recent and provide more
information.
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Results
When I first found out I was going to be a dad, I felt terrified. I remember I was in shock for a
few minutes until my girlfriend snapped me out of it. I remember I would cry at night because of
the stress I felt. I was only sixteen, I didnt have a job, my parents did not get paid well in order
to help me pay for all the expenses heading my way. I knew I had to get a job as soon as possible
because I had to provide for my child that was soon going to be here. It was hard finding a job
that would accommodate to my needs. I still wanted to go to school and finish my education. But
many of the jobs I applied to did not offer part time positions. I had to drop out of school in order
to get a full time job. The job that I got did not pay well but it would cover the basic needs of my
girlfriend and the baby that was on the way. I was lucky that her parents let us live in their house
rent free or else I would have had to find a second job. When my son was born all I wanted to do
was provide everything for him. I think thats when I lost track of my night classes and focus
more on bringing money to the house. But you know what wouldnt change it, hes my
Just like Edward there are plenty of teenagers willing to stay and help the mother raise
their baby. But no much information is provided on the subject. The Father and Child
Organization state, Although a large volume of academic research dealt with teenage
pregnancy, only a small proportion dealt with the father as a factor and many studies did not
mention the father at all.() Through research the Father and child organization found that father
want to be involved but often find obstacles to keep them from being with their children, they
state Even though they want to be involved with their children the researchers found many of
the young fathers gradually lost contact through lack of structure intervention and committed
support from the childs and both sets of grandparents. One of the biggest factor when fathers
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lose touch with their children is because father and mother lose contact with one another. The
organization states, The most common reason given by the fathers for not having more contact
with their children was the mothers reluctance to let them, or problem in their relationships.
Even though teen fathers have been over looked in man studies, they actually have an
enormous amount of impact in their childs life. Sefanie Moliborn and Peter Lovegrove, focus on
three domains in which a teenage father has an impact. The article How Teenage Fathers Matter
for Children Evidence from the EOLS-B published by Mollborn and Lovegrove focuses on three
domains, The house context, the father-mother relationship and father-child relationship. They
positive on average than those of adult fathers. Teenage fathers typically lower education and
income compared with adult fathers poses a contextual risk for their children. (Mollborn &
Lovegrove 2011) As we could see the inability to provide a good economic support affects the
child in a negative way. The second domain Mallborn and Lovegrove focus on is the father and
mother relationship. As the second domain of fathers influence, the father mother relationship
has been shown to affect fathers parenting a child development. Much of the literature on the
father and mother relationship increases involvement in children care. Fathers absence was
associated with depression and anxiety among mothers, and support from fathers elevated
mothers psychological well-being. These findings are interesting because maternal mental health
could see teenage fathers have an impact in their childs life as well as the mother of the child. If
the relationship between the mother and the father work well there is a higher chance of the
father being present in the childs life. It is also important to notice that the fathers involvement
also affects the childs mother depending on the circumstances of their relationship, which
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ultimately affect the child. The third domain in which the father influences is the father and child
relationship. Father involvement has been shown to be positively related to childrens academic
performance and adolescents behavior. Fathers communication with their children improved the
childrens communication skills, which in turn reduce behavior problem. However, some
research has found a nonexistent or inconstant effect of father involvement on children outcomes
and has emphasized the importance of considering the quality of the father-mother relationship
when investigating the association between Father-Child contact and child outcome. (Mollborn
and Lovegrove 2011) The outcome of the relationship between father and child is affected
negatively by the immaturity of the father. The Father and Child Organization explain, The
inexperience and immaturity of a young father was found to be a fa tore in his relationship with
the child and the mother. Dallas C. et (2000) believe the lack of development knowledge and
unrealistic expectation for their children behavior shown by the subject they studied might lead
some young parents to mistake their children developmental immaturity for deliberate
misbehavior which could then lead to inappropriate discipline. Such aggressive behavior might
cause the family to split apart as well as psychological problems for the child later in life.
Having a baby at a young age increases the probability of the father dropping out of
that, Teenage fathers have been linked with social economic status, lower education and higher
dropout rates. (Nursing and Health Sciences 2015) According to the Father and Child
Foundation, Fathers regardless of their marital status and conception or age at first birth were
much more likely to have been high school drop outs that were other male teenagers. Those with
marital conceived child had a particular high dropout rate almost 62%. Marsiglio W. (1887).
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Some ways that a parent, caregiver and the community could teenagers reach their adult
hood without becoming a father is providing information. According Robert Becker Adolescent
men are specially at risk for unintended pregnancy and STIs because they are more likely to be
misinformed about sexuality and sexual health. Young men are socialized to know it all when
it comes to sex. Do not ask questions and to always be ready and willing to sexual activity.
(Young) According to the national campaign to prevent to teen and unplanned pregnancy it is
important to, Be clear about sexual values and attitude it is important to talk to teenagers
about sex according to the national campaign. Talking with your children early and often about
sex and be specific, Young people have lots of questions about sex, love, and relationship, and
they often say that the source theyd most like to go to for answers is their parents.
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Reference
-Becker, R. (2017). ReCAPP: Theories & Approaches: Male Involvement and Adolescent
http://recapp.etr.org/recapp/index.cfm?fuseaction=pages.TheoriesDetail&PageID=315
-Breiding, H., Guise, T., Scanlan, T., & voice, T. (2003). The Support Needs of Teenage Fathers
- Father and Child Trust. Father and Child Trust. Retrieved 18 April 2017, from
http://fatherandchild.org.nz/papers/the-support-needs-of-teenage-fathers/
-Fletcher, J., & Wolfe, B. (2011). The Effects of Teenage Fatherhood on young Adults
http://resiliencelaw.org/wordpress2011/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Effect-of-Teenage-
Fatherhood-on-Outcomes.pdf
-Landers, M., Mitchell, O., & Coates, E. (2014). Teenage Fatherhood as a potential Turning
-Mollborn, S., & Lovegrove, P. (2017). How Teenage Fathers Matter for Children: Evidence
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3172315/
-Sriyasak, A., Almqvist, A., Sridawruang, C., & Haggstrom-Nordin, E. (2015). Father Role: A
comparison between teenage and adult First Time Fathers in Thailand. Retrieved 18 April 2017
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-Ten Tip for parents to help their Children Avoid Teenage Pregnancy. (2017).
http://thenationalcampaign.org/sites/default/files/resource-primary-download/10tips_final.pdf
-Thornberry, T., Wei, E., Stouthamer-loeber, M., & Van Dyke, J. (2000). Teenage Fatherhood
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/178899.pdf