The concepts of hope, self-esteem, and social support have been identified as importantfactors in understanding a wide range of adolescent behaviors. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship of perceived hopefulness, self-esteem, and social support with pregnancy status. Employing a cross-sectional design, a sample of pregnant (n = 58) and nonpregnant (n = 91) adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 completed the Hopefulness Scale for Adolescents (HSA), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ). Multiple regression analyses were used to assess the association of pregnancy status with hopefulness, self-esteem, and social support while controlling for age and socioeconomic status (SES). The effects of pregnancy status on each psychosocial variable were examined independently. Findings revealed pregnancy status was not associated with hopefulness, self-esteem, or perceived social support when age and SES were controlled.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anastasiow, N. (1987). Programs developed in response to teen pregnancies. Infant Mental Health Journal, 8(1), 65-75.
2.
Atwood, J. , & Hinds, P. (1986). Heuristic heresy: Application of reliability and validity criteria to products of grounded theory. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 8(2), 135-154.
3.
Baber, K. (1994). Adolescent pregnancy and parenthood. In S. Price (Ed.), Vision 2010: Families and adolescents (pp. 20-21). Minneapolis, MN: National Council on Family Relations.
4.
Barrera, M. (1986). Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14(4), 413-445.
5.
Bolden L. , & Williams, B. (1995). A measure of self-esteem in pregnant teenagers. Clinical Nursing Research, 4(2), 223-231.
6.
Brooks-Gunn, J. , & Chase-Lansdale, P. (1995). Adolescent parenthood. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting, Vol. 3: Status and social conditions of parenting (pp. 113-149). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
7.
Burke, P. (1990). The relationship between stressful life events and social supportfor adolescent mothers as compared with older mothers and non-parenting female adolescents. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Boston College.
8.
Burke, P. , & Liston, W. (1994). Adolescent mothers' perceptions of social support and the impact of parenting on their lives. Pediatric Nursing, 22(6), 593-599.
9.
Centers for Disease Control . (1995, September 25). Teenage pregnancy and birthrates. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 677-681.
10.
Children's Defense Fund . (1987). Adolescent pregnancy: An anatomy of a social problem in search of comprehensive solutions. Washington, DC: Author.
Cohen, J. , & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression correlation for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
13.
Eggert, L. , Thompson, E., Herting, J., Nicholas, L., & Dicker, B. (1994). Preventing adolescent drug abuse and high school dropout through an intensive school-based social support network development program. American Journal of Health Promotion, 8(3), 202-215.
14.
Erikson, E. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
15.
Farran, C. , Herth, K., & Popovich, J. (1995). Hope and hopelessness: Critical clinical constructs. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
16.
Foster, P. (1989). The relationship between selected variables and the self-esteem in adolescent females. Dissertation Abstracts International. (University Microfilms No. 9003858)
17.
Gillmore, M. , Butler, S., Lohr, M., & Gilchrist, L. (1992). Substance use and other factors associated with risky behavior among pregnant adolescents. Family Planning Perspectives, 24, 255-261.
18.
Green, L. (1982). Revised manual for scoring socioeconomic status for research on health behavior. Unpublished manuscript.
19.
Hamilton, L. (1990). Statistics with STATA. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
20.
Heinrich, K. (1996). Family sexuality. In P. Bomar (Ed.), Nurses andfamily health promotion: Concepts, assessment and intervention (2nd ed.; pp. 284-305). Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.
21.
Hinds, P. (1984). Inducing a definition of "hope" through the use of grounded theory methodology. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 9, 351-362.
22.
Hinds, P. (1985). An investigation of the relationship between adolescent hopefulness, caring behaviors of nurses and adolescent health care outcomes. Dissertation Abstracts International. (University Microfilm No. 8522813)
23.
Hinds, P. (1988). Adolescent hopefulness in illness and health. Advances in Nursing Science, 10(3), 79-88.
24.
Hinds, P. , & Gattuso, J. (1991). Measuring hopefulness in adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 8(2), 92-94.
25.
Hinds, P. , & Stoker, H. (1988). Adolescentpreferences for a scaling format. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 3(6), 408-411.
26.
Horn, M. , & Rudolph, L. (1987). An investigation of verbal interaction, knowledge of sexual behavior, and self-concept in adolescent mothers. Adolescence, 22, 591-598.
27.
Kahn, R. L. (1979). Aging and social support. In B. Riley (Ed.), Aging from birth to death: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 77-91). Boulder, CO: Westview.
28.
Kellinger, K. (1985). Factors in adolescent contraceptive use. Nurse Practitioner, 10(9), 55-62.
29.
Kerlinger, F. (1986). Foundation of behavioral research (3rd ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
30.
Koniak-Griffin, D. (1988). The relationship between social support, self-esteem, and maternal fetal attachment in adolescents. Research in Nursing and Health, 11, 269-269.
31.
Koniak-Griffin, D. , Lominska, S., & Brecht, M. (1993). Social support during adolescent pregnancy: A comparison of three ethnic groups. Journal of Adolescence, 16, 43-56.
32.
Lanz, J. (1995). Psychological, behavioral, and social factors associated with early forced sexual intercourse among pregnant adolescents. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 10(2), 188-200.
33.
Leigh, B. , Morrison, D., Trocki, K., & Temple, K. (1994). Sexual behavior of American adolescents: Results from a U.S. national survey. Journal of Adolescent Health, 2, 117-125.
34.
Lohr, M. , & Gillmore, M. (1991, April). Adolescent friendships during pregnancy and early parenting. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Seattle, WA.
35.
Matsuhashi, Y , & Felice, M. (1991). Adolescent body image during pregnancy. Journal of Adolescent Health, 12, 313-315.
36.
May, K. (1992). Social networks and help-seeking experiences of pregnant teens. Journal of Obstetrics Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing, 21, 497-502.
37.
McLaughlin, C. , Chen, C., Greenberger, E., & Biermeier, C. (1997). Family, peer, and individual correlates of sexual behavior among Caucasian and Asian American late adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 7(1), 33-53.
38.
Medora, N. , Goldstein, A., & Von der Hellen, C. (1994). Romanticism and self-esteem among pregnant adolescents, adolescent mothers, and nonpregnant, nonparenting teens. Journal of Social Psychology, 134(5), 581-591.
39.
Millstein, S. , & Moscicki, A. (1995). Sexually transmitted diseases in female adolescents: Effects of psychological factors and high risk behaviors. Journal of Adolescent Health, 17, 83-90.
40.
Montessoro, A. , & Blixen, C. (1996). Public policy and adolescent pregnancy: A reexamination of the issues. Nursing Outlook, 44, 31-36.
41.
Morgan, C. , Chapar, G., & Fisher, M. (1995). Psychosocial variables associated with teenage pregnancy. Adolescence, 30(118), 277-289.
42.
Nathanson, C. (1980). Social roles and health status among women: The significance of employment. Social Science and Medicine, 14A, 463-471.
43.
National Center for Health Statistics [NCHS] . (1993). Advance report of final natality statistics, 1990. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 41(9), 1-51.
44.
Norbeck, J. , & Anderson, N. (1989). Psychosocial predictors of pregnancy outcomes in lowincome black, Hispanic, and white women. Nursing Research, 38, 204-209.
45.
Norbeck, J. , Lindsey, A., & Carrieri, V. (1981). The development of an instrument to measure social support. Nursing Research, 30, 264-264.
46.
Norbeck, J. , Lindsey, A., & Carrieri, V. (1983). Further development of the Norbeck social support questionnaire: Normative data and validity testing. Nursing Research, 32, 4-9.
47.
Nurmi, J. , & Pulliainen, H. (1991). The changing parent-child relationship, self-esteem, and intelligence as determinants of orientation to the future during early adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 14, 35-51.
48.
Orshan, S. (1996). Acculturation, perceived social support, and self-esteem in primigravida Puerto Rican teenagers. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 8(4), 460-473.
49.
Procidano, M. , & Heller, K. (1983). Measures of perceived social support from friends and from family. American Journal of Community Psychology, 11, 1-24.
50.
Richardson, R. , Barbour, N., & Bubenzer, D. (1995). Peer relationships as a source of support for adolescent mothers. Journal of Adolescent Research, 10(2), 278-290.
51.
Robinson, R. , & Frank, D. (1994). The relation between self-esteem, sexual activity, and pregnancy. Adolescence, 29(113), 27-35.
52.
Rosenberg, M. (1989). Society and the adolescent self-image (Rev. ed.). Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
53.
Sarason, I. , & Sarason, B. (Eds.). (1985). Social support: Theory, research, and application. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.
54.
Silber, E. , & Tippett, J. (1965). Self-esteem, clinical assessment and measurement validation. Psychological Reports, 16, 1017-1071.
55.
Smith, M. (1983). Hope and despair: Keys to the sociopsychodynamics of youth. American Journal Orthopsychiatry, 53(3), 388-399.
56.
Stanwyck. D. (1983, August). Self-esteem through the life span. Family & Community Health, 11-28.
57.
Tuttle, J. (1995). Family support, adolescent individuation, and drug and alcohol involvement. Journal of Family Nursing, 1, 303-326.
58.
Vaux, A. (1988). Social support: Theory, research, and intervention. New York: Praeger.
59.
Wylie, R. (1974). The self-concept, Vol. 1. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
60.
Yarcheski, A. , & Mahon, N. (1989). A causal model of positive health practices: The relationship between approach and replication. Nursing Research, 38(2), 88-93.
61.
Yarcheski, A. , Scoloveno, M., & Mahon, N. (1994). Social support and well-being in adolescents: The mediating role of hopefulness. Nursing Research, 43(5), 288-292.
62.
Zongker, C. (1977). Self-concept of pregnant girls. Adolescence, 12, 477-488.
