Although some commentators have suggested that motherhood
may have positive implications for some disadvantaged girls
with few educational or job prospects,19,28,39 there is, indeed, evidence
that early pregnancy and parenthood exacerbate the problems
of young women from disadvantaged backgrounds. In
terms of health, several studies have reported longer-term problems,
such as depressive symptomology and somatic illness, in
the year after delivery.40,41
Vulnerability to clinical depression and depressive symptomology
in the year after delivery was investigated in a study
involving adolescent mothers aged 14–18 and a closely matched
sample of nulliparous adolescent girls.40 The key finding from
this study was the lack of evidence that childbearing places
teenagers at increased risk of depression during the early weeks
after delivery. However, at the 12-month assessment, higher
rates of somatic symptoms of depression were found among the
childbearing subjects than among their nulliparous peers.
Furthermore, a retrospective study of patients in one general
practice reported that the consultation rate for teenage mothers inthe two years after confinement was higher than that of their nulliparous
peers.41 Although teenage mothers also had higher consultation
rates than their nulliparous peers before pregnancy,
which initially suggests that the higher consultation rate or health
problems after pregnancy are not necessarily associated with
pregnancy and motherhood, further analysis indicated that,
before pregnancy, consultations were most often for gynaecological
problems, whereas after pregnancy, teenage mothers commonly
presented somatic symptoms. This evidence again suggests
that teenage motherhood is associated with psychological
disturbance and somatic illness. However, neither of the above
studies, which report that teenage mothers have more health
problems than their nulliparous peers, compared teenage mothers
with older mothers. Having children is stressful for women of all
ages, and there is little evidence that adverse health consequences
are any more prevalent among young mothers than
among older mothers.