Teenage parenthood among child welfare clients : - a Swedish national cohort study

• To assess prevalence and odds for teenage parenthood among former child welfare clients, we used national register data for all children born in Sweden 1972–1983 (n=1,178,207), including 49,582 former child welfare clients with varying intervention experiences. Logistic regression models, adjusted for demographic, socio-economic and familial background factors, were used to estimate odds ratios.Among youth who received interventions in adolescence, 16–19% of the girls and 5–6% of the boys became teenage parents, compared to 3% for girls and 0.7% for boys without child welfare experiences. Youths who entered child welfare services in their teens had four- to fivefold adjusted odds for becoming a teenage parent. For other child welfare clients, adjusted odds were mostly twofold.Youth of both sexes who receive child welfare services in adolescence are a high-risk group for teenage parenthood. Child welfare agencies should, as a minimum, provide each individual client youth with access to birth control counselling and contraceptives.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Work (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Adolescent; Parenthood; Motherhood; Fatherhood; Child bearing; Child welfare; Foster care; Child care; Cohort study

Social work

Socialt arbete

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)