Many teen mothers turned to older boyfriends because the “younger” men they knew (who were, in fact, their same age peers) were not viewed as an acceptable dating pool. The specific reasons for this perspective varied, but most had to do with the fact that the teen mother felt she was too mature to be attracted to attracted to someone her own age. Thus, older men were the only desirable dates.
Kerry, a 15-year-old, was eight months pregnant when I spoke with her. Her baby’s father was 18. When asked whether she liked guys in general, she responded that, “All of boyfriends have been older than me.” Her explanation for dating older men was that they were more mature than younger men:
[I like] somebody I don’t always have to baby-sit. I get tired of being with people that look up to me. Me and my friends were talking about this. You want someone who knows exactly what you need, and a lot of them don’t. someone who can take care of himself and who’s not going to look at you like a baby-sitter a lot of them do.