Family, Economic, and Socio-Binding Factors Affecting the Return of Adolescent Mothers to School

• Main Authors: I-Hsien Niu, 牛憶先
• Other Authors: Shan-Tair Wang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2000
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/78981302741013607201

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 行為醫學研究所 === 88 === Objectives：Adolescent mothers have a low percentage of high school completion which is associated with low socioeconomic status in their later life. This study aimed to investigate the adolescent mothers'' expectancy of education attainment and the factors affecting the return of adolescent mothers to school. Methods：Women who were younger than 20 at their first delivery were recruited. The subjects (n=205) were divided into 3 groups: women who completed high school before the first child delivery (CHS group) (n=73), women yet completed high school but returned to school after the child delivery (RS group) (n=10), and women who neither completed high school nor returned to school after the child delivery (NRS group) (n=122). A questionnaire was developed from open-ended questions in a pilot study involving 7 adolescent mothers, and administered to the recruits by a standardized telephone interview. Results： 42.5% of the adolescent mothers in CHS group and 40% of those in RS group wished to complete junior college education as compared to 14.8% in NRS group (P < 0.05). Despite the much lower expectation in achieving college education, 64.8% of the mothers in NRS group still wished to complete high school education. The subjects in NRS group failed to return to school mainly because they put the care of their children first (82.8%) which was significantly higher than that (33.3%) in RS group (P < 0.05). 52.5% in NRS group claimed that it was financially difficult for them to return to school, compared to 20% in RS group (P < 0.05). "For" from family members was stronger in RS group (80%) than in NRS group (29.5%) (P < 0.05), but "against" was no difference. Among the supporters of adolescent mothers in the NRS group for return to school, most of them (52.8%) were parents. The non-supporters were mostly parents-in-law (80.6%) and husbands (75%). The effects of social and cultural factors on the return to school were not significantly different between RS group and NRS group. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the odds of not returning to school among the adolescent mothers without family support was 28.8 times of that among those with family support（P < 0.01）. It was 12.3-fold increase among those who need to assume the primary responsibility of child bearing as compared to those who do not（P < 0.01）. Similar results were obtained when the actual time from the delivery of the first child to the return to school or to the time of study was considered in Cox regression analysis. The relative risks were 15.1 (P < 0.01） and 5.7 （P < 0.01）, respectively. Financial difficulty did not reach statistical significance in both analyses. Conclusions： Over 50% of the adolescent mothers think they should complete at least high school education. The higher is her present educational level, and the higher is her expectation of educational achievement. The main obstacles for high school completion among adolescent mothers in NRS group are child care and financial difficulties. Adolescent mothers'' life sustenance and child care should be considered in helping them get back to school.