NCJ Number
91281
Date Published
1983
Length
231 pages
Annotation
A program designed to help pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers develop personal and economic self-sufficiency produced improved educational, employment, and fertility outcomes for its participants.
Abstract
Study data came from 400 teenagers, including participants in the demonstration program entitled Project Redirection and a comparison group which had not taken part in the program. At the 12-month followup, significantly more members of the experimental groups were enrolled in or had completed an educational program. The program was particularly effective in encouraging school dropouts to return to school. Half of the experimental group and 40 percent of the comparison had held a job at some point after the start of the program. Taking part in the program had a particularly large effect on the teenagers who had never worked before enrolling in the program. The project participants had a significantly lower rate of subsequent pregnancies than did the comparison group. The program, which used community women to act as primary supports to the teenagers, proved effective for the clients in the major ethnic, age, and parity subgroups included in the sample. Footnotes; data tables; and appendixes presenting the study methodology, additional data, and 40 references are provided. For a related study, see NCJ 91280.