Abstract
A survey was taken to determine pregnant teenagers' knowledge of sexuality and child development and their parenting attitudes relative to comparison groups. The results indicate that the knowledge and attitude base of pregnant teenagers is almost identical to that of never-pregnant teenagers. However, adult mothers scored slightly but significantly higher than the teenagers on a measure of child development knowledge and considerably lower than the teenagers on a measure of knowledge of sexuality. The results illustrate the importance of using comparison groups in studies of pregnant teenagers. The implications for sex education programs are discussed.
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Received his Ph.D. in family ecology from Michigan State University. Research interests are teenage sexuality, pregnancy, and parenting, and the development of children in stressed families.
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Roosa, M.W. A comparative study of pregnant teenagers' parenting attitudes and knowledge of sexuality and child development. J Youth Adolescence 12, 213–223 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02090987
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02090987