First births among unmarried adolescent girls: Risk and protective factors

In this longitudinal investigation the authors drew on cumulative risk theories to provide new evidence about the effects of sociodemographic risk factors for adolescent nonmarital childbearing among 958 girls in a nationally representative sample. The effect of a cumulative risk index was highly significant-adolescent girls who experienced five or more sociodemographic risk factors were 16 times more likely than their counterparts with only one risk factor to experience a nonmarital childbirth during the teenage years. The authors also examined the role of hypothesized protective factors-including high self-esteem high basic skills and high educational expectations-in interaction with the cumulative risk index. Findings suggest that under similar levels of sociodemographic risk adolescent girls with high educational expectations are less likely to experience a nonmarital birth. However the buffering effects of high educational expectations account for comparatively less than cumulative risk effects on nonmarital childbearing during adolescence. (authors)