Teenage motherhood

Seamark and Lings1 draw attention to some of the positive consequences of teenage motherhood. Major US research2 confirms that many teenage mothers make up their initial disadvantages in education and finance.

Seamark and Lings also plead for further research on long-term consequences. This would be valuable in several areas. The role of the teenager's own mother might be vital. In a sample of 100 teenage mothers, the teenager's first response on finding she was pregnant was almost in every case ‘what will my mother think?’.3 Other areas worth looking at are the role of the baby's father, and the best way for stage agencies to provide assistance. Advice from healthcare professionals may conflict with that from the immediate family. Dependence on financial support from the state is almost universal in the immediate period of teenage motherhood.

It would be a pity if such research opportunities were lost. The common ‘solution’ to the ‘problem’ of teenage pregnancy in earlier decades — shotgun marriages — has passed into history with no attempt having been made to evaluate its costs and benefits.

• © British Journal of General Practice, 2005.