The study adolescents more readily reported past life experiences of a traumatic nature than personal abuse. They witnessed traumatic events in the community occurring to friends and family members. Reactions to the traumatic experiences varied by adolescent. Although not reported in this study, Kennedy and collaborators (2012) found that 85% of Black, non child bearing, adolescents witnessed partner violence between the parents; 49% witnessed injuries from parental partner violence severe enough for the adult to require the need for a doctor. Research connecting witnessing of violence,either in the community or between parents, and childbearing is limited. One study suggested an association between the witnessing of community violence and early repeat child bearing (Raneri & Wiemann, 2007). In this study, past traumatic life experiences was also found to contribute to parity.Interestingly, however, adolescents experiencing past traumatic life experiences were 67% less likely to have more than one living child. This finding in this study, although somewhat unexpected, may reflect most of this study’s sample of primiparous adolescents (nearly 75%). Additional research is needed to determine the influence of past traumatic life experiences, including witnessing of community violence and partner violence between parents, on child bearing and parity.