5 Teen mothers with rapid subsequent births have more births over time than other teen mothers. This was one conclusion of the longitudinal study Adolescent Mothers and their Children in Later Life, which followed more than 300 primarily urban black women who gave birth as teenagers in the late 1960s. Teen mothers whose own mothers dropped out of high school are more likely to have subsequent births. Teen mothers are more likely to have a subsequent pregnancy if ignorant or unmotivated about contraception. The reason a teen mother failed to contracept prior to her first pregnancy may indicate the likelihood of continued non-use of contraception and suggest the probability of a second pregnancy.
Teen marriage increases the likelihood of rapid subsequent pregnancy.
A teen mother who is married is more likely to have a second birth within 24 months than a teen mother who remains unmarried, according to NLSY data. 12 Subsequent childbearing increases a teenage mother's need for public assistance. Increased likelihood of welfare receipt is linked to subsequent adolescent births. In families with two or more children, the second or subsequent child of a teen mother is more likely to be the victim of infant homicide compared to the child of a mother age 25 or older. The study of all infant homicides over an eight-year period found that among teenage mothers with two or more children, the younger the mother, the greater the relative risk of homicide for the child.