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Parental Nurturance and the MentalHealth and Parenting of Urban AfricanAmerican Adolescent MothersAmy Lewin a , Stephanie J. Mitchell a , Stacy Hodgkinson a , LoriBurrell b , Lee S. A. Beers a & Anne K. Duggan ba Children's National Medical Center , Washington, District ofColumbiab Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , Baltimore, MarylandPublished online: 29 Jul 2011.

To cite this article: Amy Lewin , Stephanie J. Mitchell , Stacy Hodgkinson , Lori Burrell , Lee S.A. Beers & Anne K. Duggan (2011) Parental Nurturance and the Mental Health and Parenting ofUrban African American Adolescent Mothers, Journal of Family Social Work, 14:4, 311-325, DOI:10.1080/10522158.2011.587177

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Parental Nurturance and the Mental Healthand Parenting of Urban African American

Adolescent Mothers

AMY LEWIN, STEPHANIE J. MITCHELL, and STACY HODGKINSONChildren’s National Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia

LORI BURRELLJohns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

LEE S. A. BEERSChildren’s National Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia

ANNE K. DUGGANJohns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

This study examined the relationship between a teen mother’sperceptions of nurturance from her mother and father and hermental health and parenting attitudes. One-hundred and thirty-eight urban, primarily African American adolescent mothers wereinterviewed. Multivariate results indicate that teen mothers whofelt nurtured by their mothers had greater empathy toward theirown children, and those who felt nurtured by their fathers reportedgreater parenting satisfaction. These findings support the impor-tance of interventions that include supporting nurturing parentingof adolescent mothers by their mothers and their fathers.

This project was supported by a grant from the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs,Office of Population Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services (APH PA 006026),and the DC-Baltimore Research Center on Child Health Disparities (P20 MD00165). Additionalsupport was received from the Center for Clinical and Community Research at Children’sNational Medical Center. The contents of this manuscript are solely the responsibility of theauthors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies. The fundersdid not have a role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis,and interpretation of the data; nor preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.

Address correspondence to Amy Lewin, Children’s National Medical Center, 111 MichiganAvenue NW, Washington, DC 20010. E-mail: alewin@childrensnational.org

Journal of Family Social Work, 14:311–325, 2011Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1052-2158 print=1540-4072 onlineDOI: 10.1080/10522158.2011.587177

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KEYWORDS adolescent mother, nurturance, parent-grandparentrelationship, parenting, young children

Despite a 14-year decline, the United States continues to lead other industria-lized nations in rates of adolescent births (Child Trends, 2009). Each year,approximately 750,000 (71.5 per 1,000) teenage girls between ages 15 and19 become pregnant, and more than one half give birth. African Americanteenage women have even higher teen pregnancy and birth rates comparedto the national average and to non-Hispanic White teens (44 per 1,000).Approximately 126 per 1,000 15- to 19-year-old African American teenagersbecome pregnant annually and 60.9 per 1,000 give birth (Child Trends,2009; Kost, Henshaw, & Carlin, 2010), underscoring the importance of exam-ining motherhood among AfricanAmerican adolescents.

Adolescent parenthood is associated with a range of adverse outcomes(e.g., low educational attainment, poverty, child abuse and neglect), whichalter the developmental trajectory of adolescents and increase the risk ofemotional and behavioral problems for parents and their offspring (Cooley &Unger, 1991; Haskett, Johnson, & Miller, 1994; Perper, Peterson, & Manlove,2010; Pogarsky, Thornberry, & Lizotte, 2006). However, not all adolescentmothers and their children experience these difficulties (Beers & Hollo,2009). Such substantial variability among adolescent mothers highlights theneed to understand factors that contribute to positive and negative outcomesamong teen parents.

With the passing of the Personal Responsibility and Work OpportunityReconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996, which requires adolescent mothers tolive with a parent or guardian to qualify for public assistance, attention hasbeen directed to understanding the impact of family support and multige-nerational households on adolescent parents and their children. Supportthrough adolescent mother–grandmother=grandfather relationships has beenidentified as an important factor influencing parenting style and attitudesamong adolescent parents who often struggle to negotiate the demands ofparenting alongside the developmental tasks of adolescence (Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 1998; Hess, Papas, & Black, 2002; Hubbs-Tait, Osofsky, Hann, &Culp, 1994). Numerous studies have reported the benefits of social supportthrough multigenerational living arrangements, citing economic and psycho-logical benefits for adolescent parents and their children (Henly, 1997;Oberlander, Black, & Starr, 2007; Schweingruber & Kalil, 2000; Stevens, 1988).

In one study, teen mothers who lived with their parents were more likelyto return to school and graduate, receive assistance with childcare, and havehigher income potential (Kellam, Adam, Brown, & Ensminger, 1982). Anotherstudy found that teen mothers who sought assistance with child rearing fromfamily were more responsive and provided a more stimulating environmentfor their children (Stevens, 1988). Adolescent mothers tend to experience

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higher rates of depression than do older mothers, and their emotional distresscan affect their children at birth (Hodgkinson, Colantuoni, Roberts,Berg-Cross, & Belcher, 2010; Schoenbach, Garrison, & Kaplan, 1984).Emotional and material support from family can also reduce emotional dis-tress in adolescent parents. Teen mothers living at home have reportedexperiencing fewer emotional problems and were found to be more respon-sive and compassionate toward their children, with less irritable infants(Crockenberg, 1987; Oyserman, Radin, & Saltz, 1994).

However, researchers have also found negative outcomes for teenmothers and their children residing in multigenerational households. In alongitudinal study of African American and White children born to teenmothers, Cooley and Unger (1991) found that maternal grandmothers whoprovided early childcare increased cognitive stimulation for the child in thehome; however, in families where the adolescent lived with her mother fora longer period of time (>24 months after child’s birth), the home environ-ment became less stimulating, and teen mothers became less responsivetoward their children. Importantly, researchers have found that the extent ofgrandmother support and the quality of life within multigenerational house-holds are moderated by the degree of conflict in the mother–grandmotherrelationship (Moore & Brooks-Gunn, 2002). As an illustration of this, interge-nerational conflict, disagreements surrounding shared responsibilities forchildrearing and other processes relevant to teenage mother’s early transitionto adulthood, and grandparents’ difficulty negotiating their role as parents andgrandparents, can have a significant impact on the mother–grandmotherrelationship and influence the level and quality of support provided toadolescent mothers (Chase-Landsdale, Gordon, Coley, Wakschlag, & Brooks-Gunn, 1999; Schweingruber & Kalil, 2000).

The aim of the current study is to examine the relationship between ateen mother’s perceptions of nurturance from her parents and her mentalhealth and parenting attitudes in a sample of urban, African American teenmothers. The quality of the teen mother–grandmother relationship isespecially relevant for adolescent mothers from African American familiesbecause social network relationships, particularly kinship ties, are criticalto family functioning and child development (Stevens, 1988). Compared toWhite adolescent mothers, African American adolescent mothers are morelikely to depend on kinship networks, live with their family of origin, andshare caregiving responsibilities with their mothers (Pearson, Hunter,Ensminger, & Kellam, 1990; Taylor, Chatters, & Jackson, 1993; Unger &Cooley, 1992). African American adolescent mothers report that support fromtheir mother is the most important source of support during their transition toparenthood (Nitz, Ketterlinus, & Brandt, 1995). In a study examining predic-tors of positive parenting among African American adolescent mothers, Hessand colleagues (2002) found that teen mothers who had relationships withtheir mothers characterized by autonomy, positive affect, and the ability to

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manage conflict nondefensively were more nurturing toward their infantsand reported greater parenting satisfaction. A longitudinal study of AfricanAmerican adolescent mothers conducted by Oberlander et al. (2007) founda significant association between the supportive quality of the adolescent–grandmother relationship and parenting sense of competence. Adolescentparents reporting supportive mother–grandmother relationship also reportedfeeling more competent in their parenting role.

Studies examining the parental relationships of adolescent mothers havepredominantly focused on the teen mother–grandmother interaction. Amajor gap in the literature is the role of maternal grandfathers in adolescentmothers’ mental health and parenting. An electronic search of studies relatedto grandfathers and adolescent mothers yielded only two studies publishedin peer-reviewed journals. Only one study examined the effects of grand-fathers on parenting behavior among teen mothers. The current study foundthat adolescent mothers in grandfather-present families were more nurturingwith their children than were young mothers in grandfather-absent families(Oyserman et al., 1994). The current study did not assess teen mother’sperceptions of grandfather emotional support or the quality of the adolescentmother–grandfather relationship.

The lack of data about adolescent mothers’ relationships with theirfathers is not surprising, because adolescent mothers are more likely to residein single-family households headed by women (Hanson, Heims, Julian, &Sussman, 1995). This is especially the case for African American families(Hattery & Smith, 2007; Jaynes & Williams, 1989). However, the literatureindicates that fathers play a pivotal role in the lives of African American girls.Studies have found, for example, that close father–daughter relationshipspositively influence adolescents’ academic achievements, social interactions,and self-esteem (Cooper, 2009; Leadbeater & Way, 1996). Paternal involve-ment and closeness have been shown to protect adolescent girls from delin-quency and emotional distress (Leadbeater & Way, 1996) and predict drugrefusal self-efficacy among urban African American girls (Boyd, Ashcraft, &Belgrave, 2006).

Theories of attachment may help to explain the association between theteen mother’s relationship with her parents and her parenting behaviorstoward her child. As described within Bowlby’s (1969) theory of attachment,the relationship that exists between the child and caregiver serves as thefoundation for the child’s mental health (Bowlby, 1969). Studies on earlyattachment history among adult parents have found that the quality of attach-ment that mothers and fathers experienced with their parents predicts thedevelopment of attachment between the parent and his or her child (Ricks,1985; Steele, Steele, & Fonagy, 1996). The association between the parent–grandparent relationship and the parent–child relationship is consistent witha theory of intergenerational transmission of parenting behavior in which thequality of the relationship between the adolescent mother and her parents

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provides a mental representation of the caregiver relationship that serves as areference for the teen mother’s own parenting behavior.

There is also evidence that attachment theory has relevance to relation-ships outside the parent–child dyad. In the past several decades, researchershave applied attachment theory to romantic relationships and, more recently,to the coparenting relationship (Rholes, Simpson, & Friedman, 2006; Sheftall,Schoppe-Sullivan, & Futris, 2010). Several studies have found an associationbetween the quality of romantic relationships and partners’ attachment his-tories with their parents (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; Hazan & Shaver,1987). Research examining how attachment security relates to relationshipquality finds that individuals with insecure attachment have more difficultieswith trust, commitment, self-disclosure, relationship satisfaction and conflictresolution (Milkulincer, Florian, Cowan, & Cowan, 2002).

However, little research explores the relations between early attachmenthistory and the coparenting relationship specifically among adolescentparents. In one study that examined attachment security and adolescentmothers’ perceptions of their coparenting relationship, mothers’ attachmentavoidance was negatively associated with their ability to trust their child’sfather and their perceptions of the quality of their coparenting relationship(Sheftall et al., 2010).

These study findings suggest that the quality of a teen mother’s relation-ship with her parents is critical to her emotional stability, development as anew parent, and her functioning in other relationships. However, few studieshave gone beyond exploring multigenerational household arrangements toexamine the quality of the relationship between the adolescent mother andher parents, and the effects of those relationships on teen parenthood.

The current study contributes to the few existing studies in this area andaddresses a major gap in the literature by investigating the effects of maternaland paternal nurturance on adolescent mother’s emotional well-being, herrelationship with her child’s father (FOB), and her attitudes about parenting.We hypothesized that adolescent mothers who reported relationships withtheir mother and father characterized by high nurturance would have fewermental health symptoms, a better relationship with her FOB, greater parentalself-efficacy, and would endorse the use of more appropriate, adaptiveparenting practices.

METHOD

Sample

Participants were recruited between September 2001 and January 2005 from alarge, urban, hospital-based teen-tot clinic that provides comprehensivehealth services to teen parents and their children. Data for the current studywere collected as part of a longitudinal, randomized control trial of a

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home-based intervention designed to strengthen mental health and parentingskills of adolescent mothers. The study was approved by the InstitutionalReview Board at the hospital where the study was located. Mothers who wereage 20 years or younger, with a child 12 months old or younger, were eligiblefor the intervention study. Of 273 eligible mothers, 138 (51%) agreed toparticipate and were randomized into intervention or control groups. Themajority of mothers who refused cited lack of time or lack of interest asreasons for not participating. The current study draws on data collected frommothers in the control and intervention groups; there were no statisticallysignificant group differences in mother-reported levels of maternal or paternalnurturance.

The overwhelming majority (94%) of participating mothers identifiedthemselves as African American.The average age of mothers when baselinedata was collected was approximately 17 years (range of 13–20) and the aver-age age at which they became pregnant was approximately 16. Almost onefourth of the sample had had another child before their focal child in the cur-rent study. The focal children were 4 months old on average and just overone half were female. Most adolescent mothers lived with their own motheror grandmother, and 13% also lived with their own father. Less than onefourth of the sample had completed high school (HS), which is a reflectionof their age (see Table 1).

Procedures

Adolescent mothers were recruited into the study by research assistantsduring regular clinic visits or through community referrals. Those whoagreed to participate were visited in their homes by a research assistantwho obtained written informed consent from the mother or her parent=guardian before conducting an approximately 1 hour structuredbaseline interview with the mother. Follow-up interviews followed the sameprotocol.

Measures

PARENTAL NURTURANCE

The Parental Nurturance Scale (Buri, Misukanis, & Mueller, 2001) is a 24-itemsurvey assessing the adolescent mother’s perceptions of the nurturing andparenting she received from her mother and father. Questions were askedtwice, once for the teen’s relationship with her mother, then again for herrelationship with her father if the mother said she had ‘‘grown up with’’her father. Respondents rated their agreement on a 5-point scale with state-ments such as, ‘‘My mother expresses her warmth and affection for me,’’ and‘‘My mother is easy for me to talk to.’’ Examples of reverse scored items are

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‘‘My mother often acts as if she doesn’t care about me’’ and ‘‘I feel that mymother finds fault with me more often than I deserve.’’ Internal reliabilitycoefficients were .95 for maternal nurturance and .93 for paternal nurturance.

MOTHER’S PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

Mothers were administered the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg,1965), a 10-item self-report measure of global self-esteem originally developedfor use with adolescents. Participants responded to statements such as ‘‘I feel Ihave a number of good qualities,’’ using a 4-point scale ranging from stronglyagree to strongly disagree. Responses were reverse-coded (as necessary) andsummed. Scores ranged from 0 to 30, with higher scores indicating higherself-esteem. Cronbach’s alpha in this sample was .88.

Mothers also completed the Center for Epidemiologic StudiesDepression (CES-D) Scale (Radloff, 1977), which is a 20-item self-report ofdepressive symptoms during the past week that has acceptable psycho-metrics for use in adolescent samples. Participants responded using a 4-pointscale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 3 (a lot) and responses were summed,

TABLE 1 Sample Descriptive Statistics

M(SD) % Scale range

DemographicsFocal child age (n¼ 132) 3.93 (3.49)Focal child female (n¼ 131) 52Mother age (n¼ 138) 17.42 (1.52)Mother African American (n¼ 138) 94Age at first pregnancy (n¼ 131) 15.79 (1.69)Has other children (n¼ 137) 23Intergenerational household (n¼ 138) 73Lives with biological father 13Completed high school (n¼ 137) 23

Parental nurturanceMaternal (n¼ 128) 91.37 (18.90) 24–120Paternal (n¼ 78) 85.81 (20.39) 24–120

Psychological well-beingDepressive symptoms (n¼ 127) 17.43 (12.70) 0–60Above cut-off (>¼ 16) 45Self-esteem (n¼ 100) 32.35 (4.74) 10–40

Relationship qualityFOB daily contact (n¼ 138) 36

Parenting sense of competenceSkill=knowledge (n¼ 135) 27.61 (4.79) 0–40Valuing=comfort (n¼ 137) 27.55 (6.80) 0–45

Parenting practices (AAPI)Parental expectations (n¼ 136) 22.96 (3.49) 6–30Empathy (n¼ 134) 27.2 (4.55) 8–40Physical punishment (inverse; n¼ 136) 33.71 (5.92) 10–50Role reversal (inverse; n¼ 135) 23.49 (6.18) 8–40

Note. AAPI¼Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory; FOB¼ Father of Baby.

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with higher scores indicating more depressive symptoms. The CES-Ddisplayed very high internal reliability in this sample (a¼ .99).

PARENTING ATTITUDES

The Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI; Bavolek, 1984) was used toassess the mothers’ parenting knowledge and behavior. This instrument con-tains 32 items. Respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement witheach item on a five-point scale. The AAPI yields four subscales of constructsassociated with risk for abusive parenting: Inappropriate Parental Expecta-tions of the Child, Lack of Empathy Toward Children’s Needs, Parental Valueof Physical Punishment, and Parent–Child Role Reversal. Internal reliabilitycoefficients for the four subscales ranged from 0.75 to 0.86.

PARENTING SELF-EFFICACY

The Parent Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC; GibaudWallston, &Wanderman,2001)was used tomeasuremothers’ perceived competence in the parenting role.The instrument contains 17 items. Respondents were asked to rate their level ofagreement with each item on a 6-point scale ranging from strongly disagree tostrongly agree. The PSOC has two subscales. Skills and knowledge measuresthe degree to which a parent believes she has the needed skills and understand-ing to be a goodparent. Value and comforting assess the degree towhich aparentis comfortable in the parenting role and the value they place on that role. Highscores indicate greater competence in the parenting situation. Reported internalconsistencies for the Value=Comforting Scale were .82 and .70 for the Skills=Knowledge Scale. Test–retest reliability coefficients range from .46 to .82.

DEMOGRAPHIC AND FAMILY CHARACTERISTICS

Child age rounded to the nearest month was computed from date of birth andinterview date. Mothers provided sociodemographic information about them-selves including age, age at first pregnancy, number of (other)children, edu-cational attainment, and employment status. Mothers listed all of the personsliving with them, and intergenerational household structure was coded 1 formothers who lived with their own mothers and=or grandmothers (all motherswho lived with their fathers also lived with their mother=grandmothers).Mothers were also asked to indicate how frequently they see their baby’sfather (FOB) using a 6-point scale from 0 (not at all) to 5 (every day); thiswas used to represent partner relationship quality.

Data Analysis

To describe the associations of parental nurturance (maternal and paternal)with adolescent mothers’ emotional well-being, partner relationship quality,

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and parenting, we first computed correlations with continuous variables andone-way ANOVAs for categorical variables (e.g., FOB daily contact).Follow-up linear regression models were conducted to examine the inde-pendent associations of maternal and paternal nurturance with the depen-dent variables while controlling for any significant demographic covariates.

RESULTS

On the main predictor variables of maternal and paternal nurturance, thissample’s average scores were above the scale midpoint (see Table 1). Theadolescent mothers who reported that they had grown up with a father orfather-figure actively present in their lives (n¼ 78) reported less nurturancefrom their fathers than from their mothers (M¼ 90.8, SD¼ 19.73); however,their maternal and paternal nurturance were significantly correlated (r¼ .45,p< 0.001). There was no significant difference in maternal nurturancefor mothers who did vs. did not grow up with a father or father-figure,F(1,126)¼ 0.17, p< 0.05.

In terms of their psychological well-being, this sample’s average self-esteem score was high relative to the scale range. The average CES-D scorewas above clinical cutoff, with 45% of adolescent mothers screening positivefor depression when their children were on average 4 months old. More thanone third of adolescent mothers reported seeing the FOB on a daily basis,which seems high for nonresidential fathers but may be due to the children’syoung age (Cabrera, Ryan, Mitchell, Shannon, & Tamis-LeMonda, 2008;Lerman, 1993). Adolescent mothers’ parenting sense of competence was highrelative to the scale midpoint in terms of parenting self-efficacy and parentingsatisfaction. They also reported positive parenting practices relative to the scalemidpoint for the AAPI subscales of appropriate expectations, empathy, lowendorsement of physical punishment, and appropriate mother–child roles.

Before testing associations with parental nurturance, we examinedwhether any other covariates should be included in the linear regressionmodels predicting mothers’ psychological well-being, partner relationshipquality, and parenting practices and self-efficacy. Using one-way ANOVAs,we compared mothers with and without other children, and mothers whohad versus had not completed high school on each of the aforementionedoutcomes, and found no significant differences between these groups (resultsnot shown). Mothers of female children reported greater parenting satisfac-tion than mothers of male children, F(1,128)¼ 4.29, p< 0.05. Mothers whowere living in intergenerational households reported greater endorsementof physical punishment than those who were not living with their ownmotheror grandmother, F(1,134)¼ 4.08, p< 0.05. Mothers’ current age was signifi-cantly positively correlated with parenting satisfaction (r¼ .17, p< 0.05),appropriate expectations (r¼ .20, p< 0.05), empathy (r¼ .20, p< 0.05) and

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lower endorsement of physical punishment (r¼ .20, p< 0.05). Maternal ageat first pregnancy was significantly correlated with increased parentingsatisfaction (r¼ .23, p< 0.01).

At the univariate level, maternal nurturance was significantly associatedwith lower depressive symptoms, higher self-esteem, daily contact with FOB,F(1, 126)¼ 7.73, p< 0.01 and higher parenting self-efficacy (see Table 2).Teen mothers’ perception of maternal nurturance was also correlated withgreater empathy towards their child, and this association remained significant(b¼ .18, p< 0.05) when controlling for mother age.

Teen mothers’ perception of paternal nurturance was significantlyassociated with lower depressive symptom and higher self-esteem. Paternalnurturance was also correlated with greater parenting satisfaction, and theassociation remained significant (b¼ .35, p< 0.01) when controlling for childgender, mother age, and mother age at first pregnancy.

DISCUSSION

The current study found that the quality of an adolescent mother’s relation-ships with her own parents plays an important role in her emotional well-being and her parenting attitudes. Specifically, adolescent mothers who feltmore nurtured by their own mothers reported greater empathy toward theirchildren, and those mothers who felt more nurtured by their own fathersreported greater parenting satisfaction, even when all demographic covariateswere controlled. These findings support a theory of intergenerational trans-mission of parental nurturance. Although we did not directly measure teenmothers’ nurturing of their own children, those mothers who felt more

TABLE 2 Correlations With Maternal and Paternal Nurturance

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Maternal nurturance .45��� �.30��� .31�� .24�� .14 .09 .21� .08 �.0012. Paternal nurturance — �.48��� .39�� .21 .29�� �.01 .21 .06 �.0013. Depressive symptoms — — — — �.13 �.17 �.12 �.014. Self-esteem — .27�� .51��� .24� .33��� .16 .29��

5. Parenting self-efficacy — .30��� .03 .04 .06 �.146. Parenting satisfaction — .42��� .28��� .29��� .20�

7. Parental expectations — .48��� .46��� .49���

8. Empathy — .45��� .42���

9. Physical punishment(inverse)

— .42���

10. Role reversal(inverse)

—

Note. Correlation between maternal nurturance and paternal nurturance is for the n¼ 78 who reported

both.�p< 0.05, ��p< 0.01, ���p< 0.001.

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nurtured had greater satisfaction with their role and a better ability to besensitive to the needs of their own children. The bivariate associationsbetween maternal and paternal nurturance and decreased depressive symp-toms lend further support to the theory of intergenerational transmission ofparental nurturance, in that maternal depression has been consistently linkedto poor or maladaptive parenting behavior (Lovejoy, Graczyk, O’Hare, &Neuman, 2000). Although the concept of intergenerational transmission hasbeen used in documenting the ways that parents’ experiences of trauma canhave effects on their parenting and eventually on their children (Schwerdtfeger& Nelson Goff, 2007; Thompson, 2007), a similar concept can also be appliedto the way in which parents’ experiences of being nurtured can filter down totheir children. Although the term intergenerational transmissionwas not used,the concept was well described clinically by Selma Fraiberg (Fraiberg,Adelson, & Shapiro, 1987), and it has more recently been introduced in theresearch literature (Wakschlag, Chase-Landsdale, & Brooks-Gunn, 1996).

The current study also indicates the important role that fathers play in thewell-being and parenting attitudes of their daughters. Although only about onehalf of our sample had fathers or father figures present, we did see an effect ofpaternal nurturance for those who did. Although the current study does notfully explore the effects of adolescent mothers’ relationships with their fathers,it does clearly suggest that this is an important relationship that deserves muchfurther exploration, in research and in clinical work, as a potential source ofsupport and resilience for young mothers and their children.

Finally, we did not find a relationship between paternal nurturance andthe teen mother’s contact with the father of her baby. According to attach-ment theory, early primary attachment relationships establish a mentalschema of relationships that guides behavior in all future relationships. Thistheory would suggest that teen mothers who have a more positive relation-ship with their fathers, the first male in their lives, would be more likely tohave a positive relationship with a male romantic partner. However, contactwith the FOB is only a proxy for relationship quality and therefore might notbe an accurate reflection of relationship quality.

There are several limitations to the current study. First, the relativelysmall sample size precludes more detailed analyses. Also, given possibledifferences in social and cultural norms, findings in our homogenous sampleof low-income, urban, African American mothers may not generalize to othersocioeconomic, cultural, or racial=ethnic groups or geographic areas.Second, data presented here were collected only from the mothers andreflect only their experiences. Although mothers’ perceptions of their par-ental nurturance are certainly relevant to an understanding of theirwell-being and parenting, observational measurement of the quality of theteen parent–grandparent relationship would extend and enhance these find-ings. Third, we did not collect data specifically on parenting behavior, eitherthe grandparent’s or the teen parent’s. It is worth noting that there is some

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evidence of a significant correlation, in a sample of teen mothers, betweenparenting attitudes as measured by the AAPI, particularly the Lack of Empa-thy subscale, and observational measures of parenting behavior includingsensitivity, structuring, nonintrusiveness, and nonhostility (Chaudhuri, East-erbrooks, & Davis, 2009). Therefore, although parenting attitudes and parent-ing behaviors are indeed distinct constructs, they may also be significantlyrelated. However, additional data on the parenting behavior of teen mothersand their parents would be important future contributions in the explorationof the intergenerational transmission of nurturance. Finally, findings from thecurrent study offer preliminary evidence of the importance of the relation-ship between teen mothers and their fathers. This is a very new area ofinquiry, and more detailed investigations of this relationship would be animportant topic for future research.

Despite these limitations, the study has important and meaningful impli-cations for clinical practice. The results support the need for clinical servicesthat strengthen the relationship between adolescent mothers and theirparents—mothers and fathers. Such services should educate parents aboutthe important role they play and assist them in being able to nurture and sup-port their parenting adolescent daughters. Teen mothers’ relationships withtheir parents are often conflicted (Lewin, 1995), but interventions aiming tostrengthen parenting skills in this group might be enhanced by also workingto increase grandparents’ nurturing of the teen parents. Finally, the fathers ofteen mothers can also be an important source of nurturing for the teen andher child. Little work has been done to date on engaging fathers of teenmothers in family-oriented interventions. However, efforts should be madeto include these grandfathers as potential positive resources for teen mothersand their children.

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