The Biosocial Dimensions of School-Age Pregnancy and Parenthood: An Introduction

This volume is the 1st in a series sponsored by the Social Science Research Council Committee on Biosocial Perspectives on Parent Behavior and Offspring Development. The relevance of biosocial science to research on the family and parenting is that the family remains the universal social institution in which values are transmitted to children as the individuals fulfill their biological potential for reproduction growth and development. The term "biosocial" 1) emphasizes the unity of biological and socioenvironmental factors and 2) shows how biosocial factors fit into the genetically determined "range of reaction" for human beings. Current US school-age pregnancy and parenthood has been described as a national epidemic. Cross-cultural and historical records indicate that adolescent parenthood 1) used to be relatively rare and 2) tended to occur within a marriage to an older spouse and a network of supportive relatives. Rates of adolescent pregnancy and parenthood have been much higher among US blacks many of whom have chosen early childbearing as an alternate life course that promotes their development. These urban poor unmarried mothers and their children have good outcomes; research needs to compare this group with those who have dismal outcomes. US whites tend to complete schooling enter the work force and delay childbearing until their late 20s or early 30s. Little research has failed to study both males and females and much of it is flawed because inappropriate age categories have been used--such as lumping all adolescents aged 19 and under together without distinguishing early middle and late adolescence. Also hazards exist in using chronologic rather than biologic age when studying puberty or maturation. The tradition of studying adolescent pregnancy and parenthood as a social problem has led to a failure to recognize possibly positive outcomes. Much of the data comes from studies of troubled adolescents. Many of the papers in this volume attempt to map the normative range of human reaction from biosocial perspectives using animal models historical data and cultural concepts of social maturity.