Shay Bilchik, Administrator

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS

BJA NIJ OJJDP BJS OVC

Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention

Fact Sheet #50 January 1997

Adolescent Motherhood:

Implications for the Juvenile Justice System

by Rebecca A. Maynard, Ph.D., and Eileen M. Garry

A recently released report on a major research project provides a

wealth of information about the consequences of adolescent

childbearing, including implications for the field of juvenile

justice. Kids Having Kids: A Robin Hood Foundation Special

Report on the Costs of Adolescent Childbearing synthesizes the

findings from eight separate studies on the consequences and

costs of adolescent motherhood.

Adolescent childbearing has both contributed to and been

affected by three alarming social trends. First, child poverty rates

are high and rising. Second, the number of welfare recipients and

the concomitant costs of public assistance have risen dramatically. Third, among those on welfare, there is a much higher

proportion of never-married women, younger recipients, and

recipients who have long average durations of dependency. To

better understand the full costs and consequences of adolescent

(age 17 or younger) childbearing, the Robin Hood Foundation

commissioned seven research studies by teams of scholars. The

eighth study, a background review of previously researched

trends in teenage and adolescent childbearing, informed and

helped round out this set of reports.

Nearly 1 million American teenagers (about 10 percent of all 15- to

19-year-old females) become pregnant each year. About a third

abort their pregnancies, 14 percent miscarry, and 52 percent bear

children, 72 percent of them out of wedlock. Of the half million

teens who give birth, approximately 75 percent are first-time

mothers. More than 175,000 are 17 years old or younger, and this

age group is the focus of the studies. These young mothers and

their offspring are especially vulnerable to severe adverse social

and economic consequences. More than 80 percent of these young

mothers end up in poverty and on welfare, many for the majority of

their children’s critically important developmental years.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

(OJJDP) is responsible for leading the national fight against

juvenile violence and victimization. Among other activities,

OJJDP supports research on the causes and correlates of delinquency and disseminates information on a variety of juvenile

justice issues. Two of the studies in the Kids Having Kids project

have a direct bearing on the juvenile justice field. Findings from

these studies are summarized below.

“Crime: The Influence of Early Childbearing on the Cost of

Incarceration” (Grogger, forthcoming, in Kids Having Kids:

Economic Costs and Social Consequences of Teen Pregnancy, ed.

R. Maynard, Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press) looks at the

higher engagement in crime by male children of adolescent

mothers. The sons of adolescent mothers are 2.7 times more

likely to be incarcerated than the sons of mothers who delay

childbearing until their early 20’s. Nationally, about 5 percent of

all young men were found behind bars over a 13-year period.

This is well below the 10.3 percent rate of observed incarceration

for young men born to adolescent mothers and slightly above the

3.8 percent rate for young men born to mothers who began their

families at age 20 or 21.

Roughly half of the observed difference for young men born to

adolescent versus older childbearers is accounted for by observable differences in the demographic and background characteristics of offspring of both groups of mothers. Still, if these adolescents postponed childbearing until age 20 or 21, it would, by

itself, reduce the incarceration rate for the affected children by 13

percent (from 10.3 percent to 9.1 percent).

Even the relatively small fraction of the higher incarceration rate

that is directly attributable to adolescent childbearing costs

society dearly. A delay in childbearing until the age of 20.5

would reduce the national average incarceration rate by 3.5

percent, for an annual savings of about $1 billion in correctional

costs and a potential savings of nearly $3 billion in total law

enforcement costs. These results are, of course, long range. Even

if all prospective adolescent mothers were to delay their childbearing as of tomorrow, the incarceration rates would not fall as

predicted for about 20 years—the earliest age at which young

offenders start going to jail in any substantial numbers.

Notably, the research indicates that delays in childbearing beyond

age 21 would lead to even larger reductions in the incarceration
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rates of young men born to would-be adolescent childbearers.

This analysis also makes clear, however, that a substantial portion

of the high incarceration rates and related prison costs associated

with adolescent childbearing results from other factors that are

strongly related to or that compound the effects of adolescent

childbearing. Thus, policies that successfully address adolescent

childbearing and these other factors could lead to additional cost

savings for the Nation. Furthermore, if these young men spent

less time in jail, they could contribute more to the support of their

own children.

“Abuse and Neglect: Effects of Early Childbearing on Abuse and

Neglect of the Children” (Goerge and Lee, forthcoming, in Kids

Having Kids: Economic Costs and Social Consequences of Teen

Pregnancy) addresses the association between adolescent

childbearing and the incidence of child abuse and neglect. In this

study of children in Illinois, children born to adolescent mothers

were found to be twice as likely to be victims of abuse and

neglect than children born to 20- or 21-year-old mothers. These

differences are not narrowed by statistical controls for the

background factors such as region of the State or birth cohort that

could be controlled for in the analysis.

The ratio of foster-care placements to reported abuse and neglect

is roughly one in four among children born to adolescent mothers

and one in five among children born to the later childbearers.

Abuse and neglect rates and foster-care rates continue to decline

with longer delays until women give birth. For example, delaying

childbearing from under age 16 until age 20 or later leads to a 30

to 40 percent greater impact on the incidence of reported abuse

and neglect than does a delay from age 17 to age 20 or later. If

generalized to the Nation, the results of this study would imply

that as many as 5 percent of foster-care placements could be

averted if adolescent childbearing were eliminated. Besides the

obvious benefit to the children, this would also produce savings

for Federal and State budgets.

In addition to the research findings summarized above, some of

the other studies in the Kids Having Kids project include information about risk factors for health and behavior problems in the

lives of children of adolescent mothers. Taken together, these

findings would seem to indicate that programs designed to reduce

teen pregnancies are relevant to the field of juvenile justice. Such

programs would fit well within the prevention component of

OJJDP’s Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and

Chronic Juvenile Offenders. The Strategy calls for a continuum of

activities—from the earliest of preventive activities to strengthen

families and key community institutions and provide opportunities for the healthy development of young people to the deepest

of interventions for repeat juvenile offenders. Prevention of

adolescent pregnancy is clearly a valuable first step in helping to

reduce juvenile violence and victimization.

For Further Information

To obtain a free copy of Kids Having Kids: A Robin Hood

Foundation Special Report on the Costs of Adolescent Childbearing, call the Foundation at 212–227–6601. For a copy of OJJDP’s

Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious,

Violent, and Chronic Juvenile Offenders or a list of other OJJDP

publications, call OJJDP’s Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at

800–638–8736.

Rebecca A. Maynard is Trustee Professor of Education and Social

Policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. Eileen M. Garry is Special Assistant to the Administrator, OJJDP.

Established in 1988, the Robin Hood Foundation is a public charity to

find, fund, and provide management help to the best and most innovative

programs serving the poor of New York City. Its primary aim is to

develop the best programs and schools for young children and teenagers

living in poverty. The Kids Having Kids project was carried out by the

Catalyst Institution under a grant from the Robin Hood Foundation.

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