Compared with previous generations, today’s young people increasingly delay parenthood. Having children in the late teens and early 20s is thus a rarer experience rooted in and potentially leading to the stratification of American families. Understanding why some adolescents expect to do so can illuminate how stratification unfolds. Informed by theories of the life course, social control, and reasoned action, this study used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort (n = 4,556) to explore outcomes and antecedents of adolescent pregnancy expectations with logistic regressions. Results indicated that those expectations—including neither low nor high (i.e., split) expectations—predicted subsequent childbearing. These apparently consequential expectations were, in turn, most closely associated with youth’s academics and peer groups. These findings illustrate how different domains can intersect in the early life course to shape future prospects, and they emphasize split pregnancy expectations reported in a nationally representative sample of young women and men.
AikenA. R. A.DillawayC.Mevs-Korff. (2015). A blessing I can’t afford: Factors underlying the paradox of happiness about unintended pregnancy. Social Science & Medicine, 132, 149-155.
2.
AikenA. R. A.PotterJ. E. (2013). Are Latina women ambivalent about pregnancies they are trying to prevent? Evidence from the Border Contraceptive Access Study. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 45, 196-203.
3.
AjzenI.FishbeinM. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
4.
AllenJ. P.PorterM. R.McFarlandF. C.MarshP.McElhaneyK. B. (2005). The two faces of adolescents’ success with peers: Adolescent popularity, social adaptation, and deviant behavior. Child Development, 76, 747-460.
5.
AmatoP. R.LandaleN. S.Havasevich-BrooksT. C.BoothA.EggebeenD. J.SchoenR.McHaleS. (2008). Precursors of young women’s family formation pathways. Journal of Marriage and Family, 70, 1271-1286.
6.
BarberJ. S. (2001). Ideational influences on the transition to parenthood: Attitudes toward childbearing and competing alternatives. Social Psychology Quarterly, 64, 101-127.
7.
BrownS. S.EisenbergL. (Eds.). (1995). The best intentions: Unintended pregnancy and the well-being of children and families. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
CherlinA. J. (2009). The marriage-go-round. New York, NY: Random House.
10.
CrosnoeR.JohnsonM. K. (2011). Research on adolescence in the twenty-first century. Annual Review of Sociology, 37, 439-460.
11.
DriscollA. K.SuglandB. W.ManloveJ.PapilloA. R. (2005). Community opportunity, perceptions of opportunity, and the odds of an adolescent birth. Youth & Society, 37, 33-61.
12.
EastP. L.BarberJ. S. (2014). High educational aspirations among pregnancy adolescents are related to pregnancy unwantedness and subsequent parenting stress and inadequacy. Journal of Marriage and Family, 76, 652-664.
13.
EastP. L.KhooS. T.ReyesB. T. (2006). Risk and protective factors predictive of adolescent pregnancy: A longitudinal, prospective study. Applied Developmental Science, 10, 188-199.
14.
ElderG. H. (1998). The life course as developmental theory. Child Development, 69, 1-12.
15.
FrancisJ.MalbonK.Braun-CourvilleD.LourdesL. O.SantelliJ. (2015). Ambivalence about pregnancy and its association with symptoms of depression in adolescent females initiating contraception. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56, 44-51.
16.
FurstenbergF. E. (2003). Teenage childbearing as a public issue and private concern. Annual Review of Sociology, 29, 23-39.
17.
GeronimusA. T. (1991). The weather hypothesis and the health of African-American women and infants: Evidence and speculations. Ethnicity & Disease, 2, 207-221.
18.
HelsenM.VollegerghW.MeeusW. (2000). Social support from parents and friends and emotional problems in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 319-335.
19.
HendershotG. E.PlacekP. J. (1981). Conclusions. In HendershotG. E.PlacekP. J. (Eds.), Predicting fertility: Demographic studies of birth expectations (pp. 305-313). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
20.
HirschiT. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.
21.
HockadayC.CraseS. J.ShelleyM. C.StockdaleD. F. (2000). A prospective study of adolescent pregnancy. Journal of Adolescence, 23, 423-438.
22.
JaccardJ.DodgeT.DittusP. (2003). Do adolescents avoid pregnancy? Attitudes toward pregnancy as predictors of pregnancy. Journal of Adolescent Health, 33, 79-83.
23.
JohnsonM. K. (2005). Family roles and work values: Processes of selection and change. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 352-369.
24.
KandelD. B. (1996). The parental and peer contexts of adolescent deviance: An algebra of interpersonal influences. Journal of Drug Issues, 2, 289-315.
25.
MartinJ. A.HamiltonB. E.VenturaS. J.MenackerF.ParkM. M. (2002). Births: Final data for 2000. National Vital Statistics Reports, 50, 1-104.
26.
MayeuxL.SandstromM. J.CillessenA. H. N. (2008). Is being popular a risky proposition?Journal of Research on Adolescence, 18, 49-74.
27.
McLanahanS. (2004). Diverging destinies: How children are faring under the second demographic transition. Demography, 41, 607-627.
28.
MillerB. C.BensonB.GalbraithK. A. (2001). Family relationships and adolescent risk: A research synthesis. Developmental Review, 21, 1-38.
29.
MillerW. B. (1992). Personality traits and developmental experiences as antecedents of childbearing motivation. Demography, 29, 265-285.
30.
MillerW. B. (1994). Childbearing motivations, desires, and intentions: A theoretical framework. Genetic, Social & General Psychology Monographs, 120, 223-258.
31.
MillerW. B. (1995). Childbearing motivation and its measurement. Journal of Biosocial Science, 27, 473-487.
32.
MillerW. B.BarberJ. A.GatnyH. H. (2013). The effects of ambivalent fertility desires on pregnancy risk in young women in the USA. Population Studies: A Journal of Demography, 67, 25-38.
33.
MillerW. B.TrentM.ChungS. E. (2014). Ambivalent childbearing motivations: Predicting condom use by urban, African-American youth. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, 27, 151-160.
34.
MollbornS. (2010). Predictors and consequences of adolescents’ norms against teenage pregnancy. Sociological Quarterly, 51, 303-328.
35.
PlotnickR. D. (2007). Adolescent expectations and desires about marriage and parenthood. Journal of Adolescence, 30, 943-963.
36.
RaleyR. K.KimY.DanielsK. A. (2012). Young adults’ fertility expectations and events: Associations with college enrollment and persistence. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74, 866-879.
37.
SchneiderB. (2003). Strategies for success: High school and beyond. Brookings Papers on Education Policy, 6, 55-79.
38.
StataCorp. (2015). Stata: Release 14. College Station, TX: Author.
39.
TrentK.CrowderK. (1997). Adolescent birth intentions, social disadvantage, and behavioral outcomes. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59, 523-535.
40.
YooS. H.GuzzoK. B.HayfordS. R. (2014). Understanding the complexity of ambivalence toward pregnancy: Does it predict inconsistent use of contraception?Biodemography and Social Biology, 60, 49-66.
41.
ZabinL. S.AstoneN. M.EmersonM. R. (1993). Do adolescents want babies? The relationship between attitudes and behavior. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 3, 67-86.
