Teenage Childbirth and Risk of Inpatient Hospitalization for Mental Illness, Substance Use Disorders and Offending During Young Adulthood

Teenage childbirth is considered a contributing factor to lifelong health and social disparities for mothers; however, evidence is mostly derived from cross-sectional studies utilizing self-report surveys and is often limited to one or a few psychosocial outcomes. We compared the risk of adverse psychosocial outcomes during young adulthood, including inpatient hospitalization for mental illness (MI) or substance use disorder (SUD), and offending, among teenage mothers (< 20 years), adult mothers (≥ 20 years) and non-mothers. Data included females born in Queensland, Australia, in 1983 and 1984, followed to age 29–31 years who were registered as mothers via birth records ( N = 18,188). MI and SUD were identified from inpatient hospital records, while offending data were obtained from police and court records. Risks of adverse psychosocial outcomes in young adulthood were compared between teenage mothers, adult mothers and non-mothers using regression analyses. The lifetime prevalence of adverse psychosocial outcomes was significantly higher among teenage mothers (55.0%) than adult mothers (22.9%) and non-mothers (13.6%). Offending was the most common adverse outcome across all groups. Both adjusted analyses and propensity-scored matched analyses revealed that teenage childbirth was a significant risk factor for adverse psychosocial outcomes in young adulthood. Teenage mothers were at increased risk of inpatient hospitalizations with MI or SUD and involvement in offending compared with adult or nonmothers, even after controlling for known covariates. These findings highlight the need for holistic, continual, and integrated support for teenage mothers to improve their long-term health and social outcomes.