Educational practices and the relationship between parents and their pregnant and non-pregnant adolescent daughters

Abstract

Introduction: Family is an important socialization environment for children, which has influence on adolescent behaviour, and may constitute a risk and/or protection factor on a child's development. To describe the relationships between parenting practices and the occurrence of pregnancy in adolescents. Methods: Semi-estructured interviews were used with 11 adolescents (5 pregnant and 6 non-pregnant) who were 15 to 19 years old. The Inventário de Estilos Parentais (Parenting Styles Inventory; - PSI) was used to measure the maternal and paternal practices with adolescents. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the interviews. The PSI was administered as proposed by the manual. Results: There were differences and similarities in the relationships of pregnant and non-pregnant adolescents with their parents. The relationship with the mother seemed to be more positive among young women who did not have a pregnancy experience. There was also more negative maternal child rearing practices among pregnant adolescents as compared to non-pregnant adolescents. However, the relationships with the fathers were similar between the two groups as the fathers' educational practices were negative among both the young pregnant women and the non-pregnant women. Conclusions: Maternal educational practices, but not paternal, seem to be associated with the occurrence of adolescent pregnancy.