Proposed Research Title: Early Life Pregnancies: Options, Outcomes, and Impacts
Background
While teen-pregnancy has continued a steady decline in the last two decades, the United States still has among the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the Western world . Further, geographic variation and race and class disparities are significant, with Hispanic and Black teens in the United States have nearly one-and-a-half-times higher rates than average and about twice as high as White teens . Clearly this issue remains relevant and important.
A rich literature on the teen-child bearing addresses, among other things, the economic and social costs of early-life child-bearing, however, much less is known about other early life pregnancy outcomes …show more content…
The project’s specific aims are:
Aim 1: Identify the demographic and contextual factors that contribute to differential early life pregnancy …show more content…
First, methodologically, this project will address how to best control for and understand the differences between women who make different choices when confronting an early life pregnancy. Addressing this question will require analytic techniques that are not yet familiar to me, however, with the support of my advisors and colleagues, I will be able to gain these invaluable skills. Second, it will provide new and previously under-developed information about the short and long-term impacts of different early life pregnancy outcomes both independently and in comparison to one another. Third, it will address a number of aspects of these issues that are currently contentious in the field as well as expanding the conversation to include comparisons across outcomes. For example, the impact of abortion on mental health outcomes continues to be debated in the field, but has yet to be compared over the short and long-term nor in comparison to other pregnancy outcomes. In order to advance the scientific knowledge in this area, I will work closely with my advisors to produce and publish manuscripts on these topics and to give talks at meetings such as the American Sociological Association and the Population Association of American annual
Background
While teen-pregnancy has continued a steady decline in the last two decades, the United States still has among the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the Western world . Further, geographic variation and race and class disparities are significant, with Hispanic and Black teens in the United States have nearly one-and-a-half-times higher rates than average and about twice as high as White teens . Clearly this issue remains relevant and important.
A rich literature on the teen-child bearing addresses, among other things, the economic and social costs of early-life child-bearing, however, much less is known about other early life pregnancy outcomes …show more content…
The project’s specific aims are:
Aim 1: Identify the demographic and contextual factors that contribute to differential early life pregnancy …show more content…
First, methodologically, this project will address how to best control for and understand the differences between women who make different choices when confronting an early life pregnancy. Addressing this question will require analytic techniques that are not yet familiar to me, however, with the support of my advisors and colleagues, I will be able to gain these invaluable skills. Second, it will provide new and previously under-developed information about the short and long-term impacts of different early life pregnancy outcomes both independently and in comparison to one another. Third, it will address a number of aspects of these issues that are currently contentious in the field as well as expanding the conversation to include comparisons across outcomes. For example, the impact of abortion on mental health outcomes continues to be debated in the field, but has yet to be compared over the short and long-term nor in comparison to other pregnancy outcomes. In order to advance the scientific knowledge in this area, I will work closely with my advisors to produce and publish manuscripts on these topics and to give talks at meetings such as the American Sociological Association and the Population Association of American annual