Religious Involvement among Unmarried Adolescent Mothers: A Source of Emotional Support?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of religious factors and their relationship to other measures of social support in affecting the emotional well-being of adolescent mothers. The data derive from prenatal and post-birth interviews that were part of a longitudinal prospective study of very young mothers and their children (N = 261). The two competing hypotheses are (1) religious affiliation provides a supportive environment to help sustain young women in their childbearing experience and (2) the prohibition of nonmarital fertility implicit in religious teachings represents a source of conflict that contributes to the distress experienced by these young women. Both bivariate and multi-variate regression models suggest a pattern of religious influence and distress experienced in the first weeks after delivery that is consistent with the hypothesis that religious affiliation is a source of conflict for the unmarried adolescents. However, this genetal finding is modified by variables that describe denomination and involvement with organized religion.