PREGNANCY INTENTION STATUS: ITS INFLUENCE ON MATERNAL BEHAVIOR AND OFFSPRING AGGRESSION
Julia M Mack
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
May 2010
Committee:
Jorge Chavez, Advisor
Alfred DeMaris
Raym ond Swisher ii
ABSTRACT
Jorge Chavez, Advisor
Negative consequences associated with both teen and unintended pregnancies have been widely examined within a broad array of sociological literature. Analyses studying both unintended and teen pregnancies come to similar conclusions; children born to adolescent mothers or born unintentionally are more likely to face aversive outcomes than their counterparts. Of particular importance, children born to teen mothers are at greater risk of chronic, physical aggression during the early years of childhood. However, the combined influence of both unintended and teen pregnancy on aggressive behavior has been largely neglected throughout past research. Therefore the current analysis focuses on the impact of unintended pregnancy on the child’s aggressive behavior, paying particular attention to the mediating factors of the mother’s bond to and involvement with her child. Using data from the
Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, findings from this analysis indicate that a mother’s unintended pregnancy does increase the child’s use of physical aggression. While maternal age is also predictive of increased offspring aggression, the effect of age is significantly reduced once accounting for the intention status of the pregnancy. Additionally, OLS regression analyses suggest that when both bond and involvement are added to the model, maternal bond and involvement mediate the relationship between unintended pregnancy and child’s aggressive behavior. Finally, when controlling for all other variables, conceiving unintentionally significantly reduces a mother’s bond with her child, while giving birth at a young age reduces the mother’s involvement with her child. iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First I would thank all members of my committee for their guidance throughout my thesis writing process. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Jorge Chavez, my advisor, for reading my numerous drafts in a timely manner, while not being afraid to completely tear each draft apart. Without the constant revisions, my thesis would not have become the work it has today.
Additionally, I would like to thank Drs. Alfred DeMaris and Raymond Swisher for their support and critical feedback during both my proposal and defense. Next, I would like to thank my mother, Suzanne, my father David, and my grandmother Suzanna for their continued prayers and support throughout this process. I would especially like to thank my mom and dad for revising the final draft, I know its not easy reading large amounts of statistical analyses. Finally I would like to thank my cohort and fellow graduate students in the department for their guidance, suggestions and encouragement throughout the past two years. Without these individuals, my thesis journey would have been much less fruitful. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION ...... 1
CHAPTER I. BACKGROUND ...... 7
Aggressive Behavior ...... 7
Teen Mothers ...... 8
Children of Teen Mothers ...... 9
Unintended Pregnancies ...... 10
Unintended Mothers ...... 11
Unintended Children ...... 13
Theory ……………………………………………… …………………………….... 15
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s General Theory of Crime ...... 15
Psychological Literature on Attachment and Bonds ...... 18
CHAPTER II. PRESENT STUDY ...... 21
Data ………...... 23
Measures ...... 24
Dependent Variable ...... 24
Independent Variables ...... 25
Control Variables ...... 28
Analytic Approach ...... 32
CHAPTER III. RESULTS ...... 34
Descriptive Statistics ...... 34
Bivariate Analysis ...... 35
Multiv ariate Analysis ...... 38
Unintended Pregnancy and Offspring Aggression ...... 38
Bond as a Mediator ...... 39
Unintended Pregnancies ...... 41
Interaction of Maternal Age and Unintended Pregnancy ...... 44
Unintended Pregnancy, Emotional Bond and Involvement ...... 44
CHAPTER IV. DISCUSSION ...... 49
Lim itations …...... 55
Policy Implications ...... 58
REFERENCES ...... 60
APPENDIX ………...... 67
vi
LIST OF FIGURES/TABLES
Figure/Table Page
1 Descriptive Statistics for Study Variables ...... 67
2 Cross Tabulation and Mean Comparisons Across Pregnancy Intention Status ...... 68
3 Bivariate Correlation Matrix for Study Variables ...... 69
4 Coefficients from the OLS Regression of Childhood Agression on Seleected Independent
Variables………...... 70
5 Coefficients from the OLS Regression of Maternal Bond and Involvement on Selected
Independent Variables ...... 71
1
INTRODUCTION
Numerous studies have analyzed persistent offenders throughout the life-course, all of which come to similar conclusions, the earlier aggressive behavior begins within an individual, the longer their criminal career is likely to last (Loeber et al., 2003; Farrington, 2003; Tremblay et al., 2003). The years between infancy and preschool have been identified as the most critical period in the formation of one’s self-identity. It is during this time that many developmental processes begin to evolve, leading to future adaptive or maladaptive behaviors (Shaw et al.,
2003). Developmental theorists agree that future problems of low self-control can be detected at a very young age through chronic aggressive behavior. Aggressiveness is considered normal behavior for toddlers; however those who continue engaging in aggressive behavior after the age of four are more prone to developing behavior problems in the future (Tremblay et al, 1999;
Shaw et al., 2003). Research focusing on early predictors of low self-control is critical for identifying those most at risk of developing future behavioral problems.
Past research has focused on the demographic characteristics and poor parenting practices of mothers as factors contributing to aggressive behavior in early childhood. In their Montreal study, Tremblay and colleagues (2003) examined the development of aggressive behavior within kindergarten aged children. Mothers reported observing aggressive behavior within their children beginning as early as 13 months of age. That aggressive behavior could be identified in children so early suggests that studies need to focus on the causal processes occurring throughout the mother’s pregnancy (Tremblay et al., 2003). By understanding maternal behavior prior to, during, and after pregnancy, it may be easier to identify which children will be more susceptible to developing low self-control. Because aggressive behavior is manifested so early in life, “it logically follows that interventions involving at-risk young girls and their mates before, during, 2 and after pregnancy should be the most cost-effective form of prevention intervention”
(Tremblay et al., 2003, p.244).
“Much of the human brain’s organization, which controls behavior throughout a lifetime, occurs during fetal life and the first few years after birth. In all likelihood, mothers’ behavior during pregnancy and infancy has an important impact on the organization of their children’s brain. Girls who have behavior problems, who use drugs, who fail in school, and mate with a difficult partner will clearly not be in a position to offer the necessary environment for their child’s adequate brain development. Poor brain development and disorganized family environments are more likely to lead to poor socialization and hence to antisocial behavior” (Tremblay et al., 2003, p.240).
To date, this literature has largely examined the role of young mothers in the development of aggressive behavior in early childhood. Young mothers are typically ill prepared to provide a stable environment for their children because of their higher probability of having lower education attainment, limited income and high rates of substance use (Abma and Mott,
1991; Hotz, McElory, and Sanders, 1997; Geronimus, Korenman, and Himmemeier, 1994).
Furthermore, numerous researchers conclude that young girls are unprepared to care for young children because they lack maturity, and have limited emotional and tangible resources (Joyce,
Kaestner, and Korenman, 2000; Russell, 1994; Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999). As a result, children born to adolescent mothers have a greater probability of having a low birth weight, and developing behavioral, intellectual and emotional problems as they grow older (Luster &
Mittelstaedt, 1993).
However, many of the maternal risk factors identified within this literature are not exclusive to adolescent mothers. A separate literature examining mothers who become pregnant unintentionally and their children, identifies similar risks and consequences. For example, women who conceive unintentionally are more likely to delay prenatal care, smoke, drink and use illicit drugs while pregnant (Santelli et al, 2003; Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999; Brown 3 and Eisenberg, 1995). These prenatal behaviors are linked with risk for low birth weight and a variety of other health problems for the newborn child (Brown and Eisenberg, 1995; Coleman,
2005; Korenman, Kaestner, and Joyce, 2002). Furthermore, mothers who become pregnant unintentionally have a higher probability of developing mental health problems; as a result, these mothers are likely to have lower quality relationships with their child in terms of affection and social support (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999; Mercer, 2006; Coleman, 2005), are likely to spend less leisure time with the child during the early years and are more likely to use violence against the child (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999).
Within the criminological literature, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) are widely cited for their work on the development of low self-control. Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) state that parenting practices utilized during the first years of a child’s life are most vital to the development of the child’s self-control. Therefore, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) indicate that it is necessary for parents to monitor and punish the child’s aggressive behavior when they are young in order to teach and instill self-control within the child. Attachment to the child is the motivating factor for parents to engage in appropriate parental behaviors. When the parent is attached to the child, he/she is assumed to be vested in the child’s wellbeing, and is therefore more willing to monitor, identify and punish deviant and aggressive behaviors (Gottfredson and
Hirschi, 1990). Those who are unattached to their children will have greater difficulty engaging in various parenting practices because of the limited motivation to care for the child and may thus play a critical role in the development of aggressive behavior and low self-control.
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) identify attachment as the motivating factor to fulfill one’s parental role, yet attachment is only briefly discussed in their theory and is rarely a focus within criminological literature. Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) point towards step-families as 4 an example of guardians who are likely to be unattached to their dependents, however other family dynamics may also result in a weakened attachment between parent and child. Literature on unintentional pregnancies suggests that mothers who become pregnant unintentionally are likely to have limited attachment to their child, which may subsequently impact their involvement with the child (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999).
Much of the research studying the development of self-control overlooks attachment between mother and child, instead, focus is placed on parenting style (Burt, Simons and Simons,
2006; Nofziger, 2008). Wright and Beaver (2005) created scales to measure both parental withdrawal and affection, in addition to involvement and punishment practices, yet attachment is not identified. Again, even when the bond between mother and child is examined, focus remains on the parent’s behavior with the child rather than how attachment to the child may influence parental behavior. However, there is a well developed psychological literature which examines maternal bond during early childhood.
A robust psychological literature suggests that developing a healthy parent/child relationship is imperative for the child’s socialization process, wellbeing and development. John
Bowlby (1969) describes infant/caregiver relationships as an “affection tie that the infant forms with another specific person, bonding them together in space, enduring over time, and having survival benefits” (Gormly and Brodzinsky, 1989, p.129). Mothers who do not form a special bond with their children at an early age typically have children who are insecurely attached.
Children who are insecurely attached to their mothers are more susceptible to physical, emotional and behavioral problems (Gormly and Brodzinsky, 1989). Because attachment and bonds are typically used interchangeably within criminological literature, it is necessary to make a clear distinction between the two. Within the psychological literature, both attachment and 5 bond are viewed as behavioral control systems which influence one another (Bell and Richard,
2000). Attachment influences the individual’s emotional and behavioral reactions with others, helping to form one’s personality (Gormly and Brodzinsky, 1989). It is the parent’s bond with the child which helps develop the child’s attachment to his/her mother. Although Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) identify parental feelings towards the child as “attachment”, the psychological term “bond” will be used throughout the remainder of this paper.
Criminological literature on the development of aggression and self-control has largely concentrated on teenage pregnancy. Although teen and unintended pregnancies share many of the same maternal risk factors and potential risks for negative child outcomes, analyses focusing on adolescent and unplanned pregnancies simultaneously have yet to be done. The adolescent motherhood literature focuses on adverse outcomes for both mother (Gormly and Brodzinsky,
1989; Hope, Wilder, and Watt, 2003) and child (Hardy et al., 1998; Moore, Morrison, and
Greene, 1997) across the life-course, yet has given little attention to potential problems associated with the maternal bond to the child. In contrast, past literature on unplanned pregnancies has examined the impact of a weak or nonexistent mother/child bond on the relationship between mother and child, and on health problems associated with unintended pregnancies for both mother and child (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999; Santelli et al, 2003;
Joyce, Kaestner, and Korenman, 2000). However, the unintended pregnancy literature has failed to examine the impact these detrimental relationships may have on the unintended child as he/she grows older, in particular its influence on aggressive behavior. Therefore, the following analysis focuses on the impact of unintended pregnancies on the child’s behavior, paying particular attention to the mediating factors of the mother’s bond to and involvement with her child. 6
Using Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) general theory of crime and Bowlby’s (1969) attachment theory, this paper analyzes the link between intention status of a pregnancy and the child’s use of aggressive behavior. In particular, this paper examines how pregnancy intention and maternal age is related to maternal bonding to and involvement with the child, and the child’s subsequent risk for aggressive behavior in early childhood. It is hypothesized that mothers whose pregnancies are unintended will be less likely to form secure bonds with their infants, leading to poor parenting practices, in turn influencing the child’s aggressive behavior.
Specifically, my research questions are as follows: 1) does unintended pregnancy impact the child’s aggressive behavior; 2) does the mother’s bond and involvement with the child mediate the relationship between unintended pregnancy and child’s behavior; 3) how does the combination of both pregnancy intention status and teen-age pregnancy influence maternal bond in addition to offspring aggression; 4) and what influence does unintended pregnancy have on the mother’s bond to her child?
7
CHAPTER I. BACKGROUND
Aggressive Behavior
It has been well established that the use of physical aggression throughout early childhood is a normal stage of human development (Tremblay et al., 1999). For most, physical aggression emerges during infancy, typically around one’s first birthday, increases sharply in frequency during the second year of life, peaking around age three, then decreasing dramatically from the fourth birthday on (Tremblay et al., 1999; Tremblay et al., 2004; Tremblay, 2006; Shaw et al., 2003). It appears that during this time most individuals learn to regulate their use of physical aggression by learning more suitable, alternative behaviors from their parents (Cote et al., 2006).
While a majority of children follow this trajectory; a small percentage (3-6%) fail to learn how to regulate their aggressive behavior in early childhood, placing them at greatest risk for continuing aggressive behavior and physical violence into adulthood (Tremblay et al., 2004;
Tremblay, 2006; Nagin and Tremblay, 1999; Shaw et al., 2003; Cote et al., 2006). Frequent and persistent use of aggressive behavior beyond early childhood is a predictor of poor educational attainment, involvement in delinquent activities, and failed relationships (Rubin et al., 1998).
Various research points to maternal characteristics as a major contributor of the continuation of aggression throughout childhood. Tremblay (2004) suggests that prenatal and early postnatal environments greatly influence the child’s development of physical aggression.
Maternal risk factors most associated with chronic physical aggression within their offspring include; history of antisocial behavior, initiating childbearing at an early age, low levels of educational attainment, living in poverty, and prenatal smoking (Tremblay et al., 2004; Nagin and Tremblay, 1999; Shaw et al, 2003; Cote et al., 2006). These negative maternal 8 characteristics are also associated with poor maternal parenting skills which are highly predictive of aggressive behavior (Tremblay et al., 2004). Nagin, Farrington, and Pogarski (1997) suggest that children born to young mothers have reduced life chances in terms of inadequate development of self-control and social relationships due to limited maternal capabilities.
Teen Mothers
Young mothers are disproportionately concentrated among disadvantaged groups, many of whom are likely to endure multiple hardships across the life-course regardless of having an early pregnancy. Adolescent females most at risk of having an unintended pregnancy are those from low income families (Brown and Eisenberg, 1995). Furthermore, becoming a young parent is highly correlated with other disadvantages including; growing up in a large, single-parent family, being impoverished, living in a disadvantaged community with limited resources, having low attachment to school and having parents with low educational attainment (Maynard, 1997;
Luster & Mittelstaedt, 1993; Brown and Eisenberg, 1995; Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999;
Banwell and Bammer, 2006; Gilman et al., 2008).
From a developmental perspective, early childbearing is the addition of a stressful event within an already stressful period of one’s development. Adolescence is a time of physical, psychological and social development in which the teen is still learning how to cope with difficult situations (Passino and Whitman, 1993). Healthy interpersonal development can be greatly hindered by the constant responsibility of caring for another. Teen mothers are considered to be emotionally ill prepared for motherhood, while lacking the maturity and life experiences necessary to be a successful parent (Geronimus, Korenman, and Himmemeier, 1994;
Levine, Coll, and Oh, 2001). Young mothers are less socially competent, report more internal and external behavioral problems, and exhibit higher rates of stress than their adult counterparts 9
(Gormly and Brodzinsky, 1989; Hotz, McElory, and Sanders, 1997). Additionally, past research indicates that teen mothers have a higher probability of coming from a broken home, having little education, utilizing an aversive parenting style, and engaging in prenatal substance use; all of which may lead to aggressive behavior exhibited by the child (Loeber, Farrington and
Stouthamer-Loeber, 2003; Farrington, 2003). Thus, while a number of maternal risk factors associated with offspring aggressive behavior have been identified; the linking mechanism between the mother’s characteristics and the child’s aggression is rarely discussed.
Additionally, adolescent mothers are more likely to utilize more punitive and less supportive parenting techniques compared to their older counterparts (Luster & Mittelstaedt,
1993). Spanking inhibits a child’s development of trust and feelings of security with the parent, especially when utilized in a home plagued by other aversive situations including animosity, stress, and poverty (Slade and Wissow, 2004). Furthermore, harsh discipline is also likely to increase the child’s use of physical aggression (Simons et al., 1995). Physically punishing a child is detrimental to the child’s future development regardless of maternal characteristics.
Children of Teen Mothers
Giving birth at an early age not only significantly alters the life events of the mother, but also appears to increase the risk for a number of negative consequences for the child. Children born to teen mothers fare worse across the life-course compared to those born to older parents.
Women’s optimal age range for childbearing is between 20 and 35 because of the lower probability of birthing complications during this time period (Hardy et al., 1998). Infants born to teen mothers are twice as likely to die at birth compared to those of older mothers, due to the young mother’s hormonally ill-prepared body (Hardy et al., 1998). Furthermore, children born to adolescent mothers are more likely to have low birth weight, receive inadequate health care 10 during the first year, and are placed at greater risk for medical problems, including neurological and respiratory damage (Luster & Mittelstaedt, 1993; Moore, Morrison, and Greene, 1997).
Thus, beginning at conception, the life chances of children born to teenage mothers are greatly reduced.
As they grow older, children born to adolescent mothers tend to have a lower IQ, greater maladjustment, receive limited cognitive stimulation, exhibit aggressive behavior and have lower cognitive abilities then their counterparts (Luster & Mittelstaedt, 1993; Moore, Morrison, and
Greene, 1997). As a result, these children are placed at greater risk for developing behavioral problems and engaging in delinquent activity throughout the life-course (Luster & Mittelstaedt,
1993; Nagin et al., 1997; Tremblay et al., 2003). However, various researchers suggest that many of the problems endured by children born to teen mothers are likely the result of associated maternal demographic characteristics, rather than due to the physical immaturity of the young mother (Geronimus, Korenman, and Himmemeier, 1994; Brown and Eisenberg, 1995; Hotz,
McElory, and Sanders, 1997).
Unintended Pregnancies
Unintended pregnancies are defined as those which are reported as being either unwanted
(occurring when no children, or no more children, were desired) or mistimed (occurring earlier/later than desired) (Santelli et al., 2003; Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999, p.233).
Every year, nearly 50% of all U.S. pregnancies are unintended (Trussell, 2007). Compared to other age groups, teens are most likely to report their pregnancy as unintentional. Of the 853,000 teen pregnancies in 2001, 702,000 (82%) were unplanned (Finer and Henshaw, 2006). Early childbearing, even when unintended, is viewed as an ill-timed event compared to becoming pregnant later in life (Hotz, McElory, and Sanders, 1997). Both teen mothers and those who 11 conceive unintentionally are emotionally ill prepared to adequately care for the child
(Geronimus, Korenman, and Himmemeier, 1994, Levine, Coll, and Oh, 2001). It is not until a bond is developed with the child that the mother is fully capable of parenting her child
(Valentine, 1982). Although there are many similar maternal characteristics and detrimental outcomes for children of both teen and unintended mothers; research on delinquency often links the child’s misbehavior to the young age of the mother and fails to account for the intention status of the conception.
Unintended Mothers
Those whose pregnancies are intended are more likely to recognize pregnancy symptoms early, increasing their likelihood of making behavioral changes during the first months of pregnancy (Kost, Landry, and Darroch, 1998; Coleman, 2005). In contrast, women who become pregnant unintentionally may initially deny their pregnancy to both themselves and others, in hopes that the pregnancy will “go away” or for fear of repercussions (Weller,
Eberstein, and Bailey, 1987). Because of initial denial, unintended mothers are more likely to initiate prenatal care late within the pregnancy and to engage in prenatal smoking/drinking/drug use, which in turn have detrimental effects on the developing fetus (Joyce, Kaestner, and
Korenman, 2000; Musick, 2002). A mother’s motivation to adapt her behavior may also be driven by her worries over the infant’s well-being. Therefore it is likely that unintended pregnancies are associated with a lower commitment to the fetus’ health (Joyce, Kaestner, and
Korenman, 2000; Coleman, 2005). When a child is unintended, parents may be hesitant to accept the child, let alone feel bonded to the child. An underdeveloped bond to a child is likely to influence the parent’s feelings and behaviors with the child, leading to limited involvement 12 with and greater use of physical punishment, as a result of feelings of animosity (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999).
In addition, mothers who become pregnant unintentionally are more likely to suffer from mental health problems than those whose pregnancies were intended (Barber, Axinn and
Thornton, 1999). Unwanted childbearing is considered an uncontrolled and undesired event, linked to feelings of powerlessness, which may result in depression, anxiety, physical illness and alcoholism (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999). However, when the child is unwanted, the mother’s bond with the child may be hindered, as a result of the mother’s negative emotional state (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999; Egeland & Farber, 1984; Mercer, 2006). Past research has found that poor quality parent-child relationships are associated with psychological distress among parents and children (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999).
Negative feelings towards the child may then result in lower quality relationships between mothers and children in terms of affection and social support. Negative emotions exhibited by the mother may manifest themselves in resentment or frustration directed towards the unintended child. For example, maternal depression is found to be one of the most important factors determining a mother’s inability to show sensitivity and responsiveness to her child
(Mercer, 2006), and is associated with feeling too tired, preoccupied, or irritable to respond to her child’s needs (Vondra & Belsky, 1993). Additionally, poor mental health is often linked to poor parenting skills because mothers lack the energy needed to recognize and react to the baby’s distress (Mercer, 2006). Not responding to a child in need then has a negative effect on that child’s attachment to their mother. If the child’s needs are not readily satisfied by a caregiver, the child becomes insecure in all future relationships. 13
Understanding the influence of intention status is necessary because of its probable effect on the parent’s investment in the child’s development. Children born unintentionally are likely to have a reduced relationship with their mother as a result of the mother’s limited bond (Mercer,
2006). Additionally, feelings of resentment may arise because of the burden the child may impose on the family. These feelings of resentment may then translate into negative behaviors directed towards the child including, spanking, neglect, and lack of attention and involvement
(Joyce, Kaestner, and Korenman, 2000). However, the link between maternal characteristics and the child’s behavior is greatly understudied.
Unintended Children
As expected, past literature suggests that children born unintentionally are likely to encounter many of the same problems as those children born to young mothers. Previous research indicates that children born unintentionally suffer more health problems than children born intentionally, including a greater risk for having low birth weight and infant mortality
(Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999; Korenman, Kaestner, and Joyce, 2002). Unintended children are also likely to receive inadequate health care during the first year, have limited cognitive stimulation and less nurturing environments (Moore, Morrison, and Greene, 1997). As they grow older, children born unintentionally are likely to be fearful, have limited verbal development, and have lower quality maternal relationships (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999).
While the literature has examined a number of negative physical and mental health consequences, limited focus has been placed on the detrimental effects of unintended childrearing on behavioral outcomes for the offspring.
In their 2008 review of the unintended pregnancy literature, Gipson, Koenig, and Hindin
(2008) summarized numerous studies analyzing the consequences of unintended pregnancies on 14 both the child’s and parental health. They conclude that most studies, at the bivariate level, found that unintended pregnancies are associated with a variety of poor health outcomes for both the mother and child. Additionally, Joyce and colleagues (2000) find that unintended pregnancies are correlated with both pre and post-natal behaviors which negatively affect the child’s health. However, the effects of unintended pregnancies on the child’s health were significantly reduced once family background characteristics were controlled, indicating that maternal characteristics, particularly maternal age, are a major factor influencing the child’s wellbeing. Moreover, Santelli and colleagues (2003) suggest that “the impact of unintendedness on infant health is related more to the mother’s preexisting physical and socioeconomic status than to her pregnancy intentions” (p.95). In many analyses, once controlling for maternal and environmental characteristics, the significant effects of unintended pregnancies disappear (Baydar and Grady, 1993; Goto et al. 2006; Najman et al. 1991; Joyce et al., 2000).
Because a great amount of the mother’s having unintended children are likely to live in disadvantaged communities, researchers conclude that many of these children would endure these negative outcomes regardless of intention status upon conception (Joyce et al., 2000;
Santelli et al., 2003). However, researchers ignore potential linking mechanisms between maternal characteristics, intention status, maternal behaviors and child outcomes.
Theory
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), in formulating their theory of low self-control, indicates that low self-control develops as a result of inadequate parenting. Ideal parenting occurs when one monitors, takes notice of and disciplines bad behavior of one’s child. Parents who fail to engage in these behaviors have a higher probability of raising children with low self-control. In 15 particular, parents need to monitor their child’s use of physical aggression. Even though it is normal for toddlers to use aggression, it is not acceptable throughout society once the child reaches a certain age. Therefore it is necessary for the parent to discipline the child when he/she uses physical aggression.
In order to monitor, notice and discipline bad behavior, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) argue that parents must form a bond with their child. However, most studies focus on the punishment and monitoring tactics of the parent, assuming that he/she has developed a bond with the child (Burt, Simons and Simons, 2006; Nofziger, 2008). The parental bond is viewed as the motivating factor for engaging in appropriate parental behaviors, however not all parents develop a bond to their children, yet most research fails to acknowledge the importance of the bonding process. Therefore, I draw on Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) and Bowlby (1969) to examine the development of aggressive behavior within children.
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s General Theory of Crime
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) state that indicators of low self-control can be identified and are solidified by the age of 8, i.e. these traits are stable over time. Indicators consistent with low self-control include; impulsivity, insensitivity, physical aggression, risk-taking, short sightedness and limited cognitive abilities (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). “A person with such traits is less likely to recognize or consider the potential negative consequences of his or her behaviors, sacrificing long-term positive outcomes for short-term gratification of immediate desires” (Nofziger, 2008, p.192).
Because self-control is viewed as a stable trait, solidified by age 8, it is difficult to study an individual’s self-control prior to that age. However, past research has indicated that persistent aggressive behavior during the early years of one’s life is a major indicator of future low self- 16 control (Scholer, Nix and Patterson, 2006; Brotman et al., 2009; Stormshak et al., 2000).
Chronic antisocial behavior, which is often identified through one’s low self-control, is typically a continuation of early behavioral problems, mostly that of early childhood aggression.
Persistent aggression which continues after age three is a major predictor of future low self- control (Nagin and Tremblay 1999).
Control theorists view humans as rational beings in pursuit of gratification. However, this gratification seeking process needs to be controlled due to the varying acceptability of particular behaviors within society. Because many pleasurable behaviors are labeled as deviant within western society, most individuals are taught self-control, by their caregivers, at a very young age. But not everyone learns how to internally control their actions; oftentimes it is these individuals who become future delinquents. Consistent with control theories, Gottfredson and
Hirschi (1990) focus on what constrains one from engaging in delinquent and criminal behaviors, as opposed to what causes an individual to become a criminal (Hay, 2001). Gottfredson and
Hirschi (1990) assert that delinquency is the result of low self-control. Youth become deviant
“when their caretakers fail to provide the monitoring and supervision necessary to teach the child self-control” (Simons et al., 2007, p.505). Therefore it is up to the parent to teach and instill self- control within the child. Without a guardian explaining and exhibiting self-controlling behaviors, it is unlikely that the child will learn self-control.
According to Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), ineffective parenting is the most important factor contributing to low self-control. Parents who do not monitor, acknowledge and punish their child’s bad behavior, are likely to rear children with low self-control. Those with low self- control are then more prone to deviant and aggressive behavior across the life-course. Four conditions are necessary to instill self-control within the child (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). 17
First, it is necessary for parents to feel a special bond towards their child, which involves taking an active interest in the well-being of their child. When parents are not bonded to their child, the welfare of the child is not a main priority, increasing the likelihood of the child receiving inadequate care. Additionally, without a bond, parents are unlikely to put forth the energy necessary to accomplish the tasks essential for instilling self-control in their offspring.
However, there is some recent debate about the role of attachment in instilling self- control. Hay (2001) argues that “[bond] does not appear to play any direct role in the development of self control” (p.710). However, this is largely an assumption of Hay (2001), one by which most theorists studying the effectiveness of parenting on the development of self- control abide (Burt, Simons and Simons, 2006; Nofziger, 2008; Wright and Beaver, 2005).
However, Simons and colleagues (2007) found that along with the absence of monitoring, the parent’s expressions of hostility and rejection increased the child’s probability of engaging in misconduct. This suggests that parental bonds, in the form of parental behavior directed towards the child, may in fact play a role in the development of self-control within the child. Yet the emotional aspect of the maternal bond has been largely ignored throughout criminological literature, even though it is the motivating factor for an individual to engage in their roles as a parent.
The second condition necessary for development of self-control is parental monitoring of the child’s activities. Supervision is necessary to prevent deviant behavior from continuously occurring, and for teaching the child to recognize and avoid particular behaviors on his/her own
(Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). Third, the parent must recognize when deviant activities are taking place. Supervising a child’s actions is ineffective if the parent does not recognize the behavior as deviant. Last, once the parent recognizes the inappropriate behavior, the child must 18 be punished. Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) do not elaborate on what is deemed as effective punishment and what is not; rather they emphasize the importance of consistency of punishment tactics. However some parents may not have the willingness or ability to punish the child effectively.
Various studies have found modest support for Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) general theory of crime, most of which focus on the influence parenting skills have on a child’s development of self-control, as opposed to the emotional bond necessary for engaging in these parenting behaviors (Hay, 2001; Rubin et al., 1998; Wright and Beaver, 2005). Nor do
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) fully elaborate on the bond aspect of their theory. Besides using step-families as an example, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) fail to offer reasons for why a maternal bond to her child may be hindered. Rather their focus is placed on the result of parental bonding (i.e. monitoring, recognition and punishment). However, it is necessary to understand what hinders and influences a mother’s bond to her child. Because the bond element is not a major focus of criminology literature, I draw on research on bonds and attachment in the psychological literature.
Psychological Literature on Attachment and Bonds
Developing healthy parent/child relationships is imperative for the child’s socialization process and the wellbeing of both parties. Bowlby (1969) defines attachment as an enduring, affectionate relationship which connects a person to another individual (Gormly and Brodzinsky,
1989). In the case of a child, attachment describes a child’s relationship with their primary caregiver, typically the mother, whereas a bond is the emotional connection used to describe the development of an adult’s feelings towards a child (Mercer, 2006). A mother’s bond is 19 imperative for the child’s attachment development because early attachment influences the individual’s future emotional and behavioral reactions to others (Gormly and Brodzinsky, 1989).
A mother’s bond with her child is especially important for the child’s development of attachment (Bowlby, 1969). Many parents experience the bond and emotion of caregiving prior to giving birth to the child. However not all bonds are instantaneous; some bonds take time while in other cases the bonds are never fully developed with the child. Maternal bonding typically begins to develop during the prenatal stages of pregnancy. Emotional bonding to the fetus is characterized by constant thinking about the baby, intense feelings of love, along with some feelings of anger, anxiety and nervousness (Valentine, 1982). Negative feelings are likely to be amplified if the child’s conception is unintended (Valentine, 1982). As the fetus develops the mother’s bond to the child increases dramatically. However, Valentine (1982) indicates that how one handles an unexpected pregnancy will influence their post-natal adjustments once the child is born. While a mother can accept the child and develop a strong bond with the unborn fetus, a mother may continue to reject and resent the child, hindering the bonding process. When a pregnancy is unintended, the bonding process may be hindered by feelings of fear, anxiousness and depression (Mercer, 2006).
In psychological literature, both attachment and bonds are viewed as behavioral control systems which influence each other (Bell and Richard, 2000). Attachment influences the individuals’ emotional and behavioral reactions to other people, helping to form one’s personality (Gormly and Brodzinsky, 1989). Mothers who do not form a special bond with their children at an early age typically have children who are insecurely attached. Children who are insecurely attached to their mother during infancy are predicted to have poor mental and physical health across the life-course (Skolnick, 1986). Mothers who are depressed, anxious about 20 parenthood and less satisfied with their marriages are more likely to have insecurely attached infants (Egeland and Farber, 1984; Scher and Mayseless, 2000; Stevenson-Hinde and Shouldice,
1995; Isabella, 1993). Insecurely attached children are also more likely to have mothers who are uninvolved with their child’s development (Egeland and Farber, 1984). Maternal characteristics associated with insecure attachment include limited confidence, irritability, rejection, tension, and having negative feelings about motherhood (Scher and Mayseless, 2000). Moreover, mothers of insecurely attached children show little interest in their infants once born, are less sensitive and responsive, and more likely to avoid showing and engaging in physical contact, while engaging in inconsistent, insensitive, and rejecting parental practices (Egeland and Farber,
1984).
As stated previously, research on self-control has ignored the attachment aspect of
Gottfredson and Hirchi’s theory; they themselves also seem to overlook the importance of maternal bond. Rather, attachment is assumed to be present in all parent/child relationships. Yet not every mother is fully bonded to her child upon conception, or even after the child is born.
Some parents fail to ever develop a healthy bond to their child. It is intuitive to believe that mothers who conceive unintentionally would be most likely to never form an emotional bond with their child. Mothers whose pregnancies were unintended may have feelings of regret and resentment, which have a major impact on her emotional state. Thus, if a mother has feelings of resentment directed towards the child, it is unlikely that she will be able to develop a complete bond with that child.
21
CHAPTER II. PRESENT STUDY
Using Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) general theory of crime and Bowlby’s (1969) attachment theory, this paper analyzes the link between intention status of a pregnancy and the child’s behavior. In particular this paper examines how pregnancy intention is related to maternal bond with the child, and subsequent risk for aggressive behavior in early childhood. It is hypothesized that mothers whose pregnancies were unintended are less likely to form secure bonds with their infants, leading to poor parenting practices, in turn influencing the child’s aggressive behavior.
Unintended pregnancies negatively impact the mother’s emotional state and parents may resent an unintended child because of the burden he/she may impose on the family. Many of these negative feelings result in harmful behaviors directed towards the child. Children born unintentionally are typically less nurtured, and do not have the same resources available as those children who were planned. Therefore it is to be expected that these children will experience less favorable outcomes (Joyce, Kaestner, and Korenman, 2000). However, research fails to specify what causes unintended children to have less favorable outcomes. Most evidence points to the negative maternal characteristics typically associated with unintended pregnancy, rather than the lack of an emotional bond between the mother and child.
A majority of children born to adolescent mothers are a result of an unintended conception, yet a majority of unintended children are not born to teenage mothers (Finer and
Henshaw, 2006). Negative consequences associated with both unintended pregnancies and teen motherhood are typically mediated by similar maternal background characteristics (i.e. poverty, low educational attainment, living in disadvantaged neighborhoods) (Santelli et al, 2003;
Korenman, Kaestner, and Joyce, 2002; Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999). Research has yet to 22 address how the combined impact of an inexperienced young mother and the unintentional status of the conception influence the child’s aggressive behavior. The linking mechanisms between these two categories have yet to be analyzed.
Past research on stable aggression and low self-control has focused on the age of the mother (Tremblay, 2004; Loeber et al., 2003; Nagin et al., 1997). The younger a mother is when her child is born, the more adverse outcomes that child is likely to endure. Young mothers are ill prepared both emotionally and physically to deal with an infant (Geronimus, Korenman, and
Himmemeier, 1994; Levine, Garcia, and Oh, 1985). These girls are more likely to spank their children and less likely to provide a stable, nurturing environment for the child (Moore,
Morrison, and Greene, 1997), all of which are likely to have a negative impact of the young mothers bond to her child; a crucial element for the development of self-control (Gottfredson and
Hirschi, 1990).
Therefore this paper addresses two primary issues. First, is childhood aggression a result of an unintended conception as opposed to having a young mother, or is it a combination of the two? Second, if aggression is a result of the unintended pregnancy, what is it about the intention status that leads a child to engage in chronic aggression? I argue that having a child unintentionally reduces a mother’s bond with her child, negatively influencing her parenting practices, increasing the likelihood of the child’s use of aggression.
Even though it would be probable to believe that mothers who become pregnant unintentionally would be less likely to form a complete bond with their child, criminological research has largely ignored the influence of intention status on maternal bond. Intention status of the pregnancy has been overlooked in understanding the development of a child’s aggressive 23 behavior; rather focus has remained on the mother’s age at conception. Therefore, net of control variables, I predict the following:
H1: children born unintentionally will be more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior;
H2: maternal bond and involvement are likely to mediate the relationship between
unintended pregnancy and aggressive behavior;
H3: the interaction between teen and unintended pregnancy will further magnifying her
offspring’s aggression;
H4: and unintended pregnancies are likely to hinder the mother’s bond to and
involvement with her child.
Data
The following analysis utilizes waves one (birth) and three (age 3) of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, in addition to waves one (age 3) and two (age 5) of the In-Home
Longitudinal Study of Pre-School Aged Children. The In-Home Study is one of the four collaborative studies with Fragile Families (Bendheim-Thoman Center, 2008). The Core Study of Fragile Families is a nationally based sample of approximately 5,000 U.S. children born between the years of 1998 and 2000. The initial study is comprised of both mother and father interviews at the child’s birth, along with follow-ups when the children are ages one, three, and five (Bendheim-Thoman Center, 2008). Interviewers asked the parents about information on attitudes, relationships, parenting behavior, demographic characteristics, health, economic and employment status, neighborhood characteristics, and program participation. This analysis only uses the mother’s responses because of the current focus on maternal behaviors and attitudes about her child. 24
As stated previously, this paper also utilizes waves one (age 3) and two (age 5) of the In-
Home Longitudinal Study of Pre-School Aged Children, which is one of the four collaborative studies of Fragile Families. The In-Home Study utilizes both surveys by the caregiver and an in- home assessment conducted by the interviewer (Bendheim-Thoman Center, 2008). In-home interviews were conducted at ages three and five with the primary caregiver (typically the mother), with questions focusing on parenting, child health, and development. These assessments also gathered information on the child’s cognitive and emotional development and health. There was a 78 percent response rate for the age three In-Home Longitudinal Study; age five of the In-Home Study had a response rate of approximately 81 percent, resulting in a sample size of 2,680.
Measures
Dependent Variable
Child Aggression: Child aggressive behavior is measured at age 5. Tremblay (2004) indicates, physical aggression begins to develop within the first year after birth, its frequency then increases rapidly throughout the second and third years of life, and then decreases gradually.
Therefore by analyzing the child’s behavior at age 5, the goal is to bypass the time in children’s lives where use of physical aggression is natural and examine an age at which aggressive behavior has declined in most children. Aggressive behavior is comprised of 6 item scale which measures the child’s use of physical aggression at age five, as reported by the mother during the home assessment. Mothers responded not true (0), sometimes true (1) or very true (2) to the following statements: he/she is cruel, bullies and shows meanness to others; he/she destroy his/her own things; he/she destroys things belonging to family or others; he/she gets into many fights; he/she physically attacks people; and he/she threatens people. Distribution of the 25 aggression scale is skewed to the right; therefore .5 is added to each response and responses are logged. Then logged response for each item were logged and summed, resulting in a range of -
0.69 through 2.53 with a mean of .082. Scale items are coded so that high scores indicate aggressive behavior. The scale measuring the child’s aggressive tendencies has an alpha of
.771.
Independent Variables
Unintended Pregnancy: Following both Perreira and Cortes’ (2006) and Waller and
Birler’s (2008) analyses, unintended pregnancy will be measured using the question “When you found out you were pregnant, did you think about having an abortion?” Fragile Families data surveyed mothers three days after giving birth, therefore no pregnancies actually ended in abortion. Additionally, this question was used because the Fragile Families survey did not directly ask about pregnancy intention status (i.e. if a parent considered the conception unwanted or mistimed). (Waller and Bitler, 2008). Asking a parent about whether or not they contemplated abortion may involve a less socially desirable response, as opposed to asking if the child is unwanted.
Unintended pregnancy is dichotomized, with 1 indicating they had thought about having an abortion, and 0 indicating that they did not contemplate abortion. Measuring the validity of intention status after pregnancy is often debated. Thinking retrospectively about whether the child was mistimed or unwanted can be difficult, especially because women’s feelings often change throughout the pregnancy, even more so after giving birth. Therefore asking the mother about thoughts of abortion is a proxy for asking the mother if their child was intended. Although measuring a mother’s intention of getting pregnant based on thought of abortion is 26 unconventional, it is the only question within Fragile Families measuring pregnancy intention status.
Maternal Bond: Bonding to the child is the driving force behind parental behavior, yet few studies have tested the bond aspect of Gottfredson and Hirchi’s (1990) theory, rather it is assumed to exist in all parent/child relationships. Being a parent is a stressful time for most, however when one is unattached to the child it is likely that parental stress is magnified.
Moreover, mothers who are not bonded to their children are likely to feel greater stress and resentment while caring for their child. In order to increase the confidence of casual order, maternal measures use responses at age three, while the child’s behavioral measures utilizes responses at age five. Maternal bond is measured using two items, emotional bond and physical involvement with child. A mother’s feelings about parenting and her child are likely to be hindered by an unplanned conception. Feelings of resentment are also exhibited through lack of involvement in daily activities with the child. Due to data restrictions and limited questions about maternal bonding throughout Fragile Families, the following two measures are proxies for the bonding process.
Emotional Bond Scale: Emotional bond to child is measured at age 3 because it is
hypothesized that maternal bond is the motivation for engaging in appropriate parental
behaviors. Eight items, which are measured at age 3, are standardized and summed to
form a composite measure of maternal bonding to the child. With 5 response categories
ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree, mothers were asked to identify with the
following statements; “Being a parent is harder than I thought it would be”, “I feel
trapped by my responsibilities as a parent”, “I find that taking care of my child(ren) is
much more work than pleasure”, “I often feel tired, worn out, or exhausted from raising a 27 family”, “You find yourself giving up more of your life to meet your child’s needs than you ever expected”, “Since having your child you have been unable to do new and different things”, “Since having the child, you feel that you are almost never able to do things that you like to do”, and “Having the child has caused more problems than you expected in your relationship with men”. The scale’s range is between -15.72 and 10.42, with higher scores indicating a greater maternal bond with the child. The scale measuring maternal bond has an alpha of .773.
Involvement Scale: Maternal involvement measures the amount of time the mother reports spending with the child engaged in various activities. The stronger one’s attachment is to their child, the more likely that one is to be involved in the child’s everyday activities. Asked at age three of the core study, parental involvement is measured using a 13-item scale. Each question used to create the scale asked how many days a week the mother did the following activities with her child, ranging from 0 to 7 times a week; sing songs or nursery rhymes, tells the child they appreciate something he/she did, hug or show physical affection, tell the child he/she is loved, lets child help with chores, play imaginary games, read stories, tell stories, play inside, taking child to visit relatives, take child out to eat, assist child with eating and putting the child to bed.
The above 13 items were summed, with higher scores indicating move involvement with the child. The maternal involvement scale’s alpha is .665 with a range between 0 and
91.
28
Control Variables
Infant health problems, low birth weight and delivery complications are concentrated among women in disadvantaged subgroups, therefore it is important to control for mother’s demographic characteristics in the analysis (Kost, Landry, and Darroch, 1998). Additionally, the younger the mother, the more likely she is to come from a disadvantaged background, which has been found to be strongly correlated with well-being across the life-course for the child (Moore,
Morrison, and Greene, 1997).
Maternal age at birth: Maternal age is a marker of numerous factors related to ineffective parenting. Young mothers are more likely to be unmarried, poor, and also less educated
(Maynard, 1997). Therefore the mother’s age will be measured at wave 1, the time of the focal child’s birth. Mother’s age is a continuous variable which ranges from 15 to 43, with a mean age of 25 and median age of 24.
Maternal race/ethnicity: The variable, mother’s race, is measured using the question “Which of these categories best describes your race?” Minorities were over-sampled because the Fragile
Families study focused on “fragile” families, and they believe that minorities are more likely to be identified as such (Bendheim-Thoman Center, 2008). Race was measured by asking the question “Which of these categories best describes your race?”, White, Black/African American,
Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or Eskimo, and other. While a follow up question asked “Are you of Hispanic or Latino origin or decent”. Numerous individuals who classified themselves as White, Black, or American Indian also identified themselves as being of Hispanic decent. For this analyses, anyone who identified themselves as Hispanic will be placed in the
Hispanic category, regardless of their response to the original race question. In addition, because of the limited number of Asian/Pacific Islanders, American Indian/Eskimos and all other races, 29 the three categories were combined to form the “other” race. Each race, non-Hispanic White
(n=592), non-Hispanic Black (n=1374), Hispanic (n=633) and other (n=81), are dichotomized, with 1 being the focus race and 0 as all other races. White serves as the omitted category in the multivariate analysis.
Maternal Education: Mother’s education is measured using the question “What is the highest grade or year of regular school that you have completed?” Maternal education is coded into a series of dichotomous dummy variables to reflect the following educational attainment categories; (1) no high school degree, (2) high school diploma or G.E.D., (3) some college, 2 year degree, or technical/trade school, (4) bachelor’s degree or graduate or professional school.
Below Poverty Line: Many young and unintended mothers come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, a majority of whom continue to live a disadvantaged lifestyle after the child is born (Maynard, 1997; Kost, Landry, and Darroch, 1998). The poverty threshold for a family of four is $22,050. Therefore living below the poverty line is dichotomized. Any mothers reporting a total household income at or below $22,050 at wave 3 are coded as 1, household incomes above $22,050 are coded as 0.
Focal Child’s Gender: The focal child’s gender is a constructed variable which was identified by the interviewer at wave 1. Males are coded as 1 (n=1397) and females are coded as 0 (n=1283).
Past research has indicated that males are at greater risk than females of developing aggressive tendencies at an early age (Rubin et al., 1998).
Other Maternal Children: Having other children at the time of the focal child’s birth will also be included as a control because of the burden having additional children places on the mother.
Tremblay and colleagues (2004) find that the presence of siblings had the largest impact on level of physical aggression during early childhood. Particularly, younger children used physical 30 aggression towards their older siblings more often than older siblings used aggression towards the younger children. Additionally, the more children there are in the house, the more conflict is likely to occur. Therefore it is expected that aggressive tendencies would increase in households with numerous children. At wave 1, mothers were asked “Do you have any other biological children?” Women who indicated yes, they had other children are coded as 1 (n=1655), while those having their first child are coded as 0 (n=1025).
Household Type: Any household type that is not a two parent, biological home is often associated with disorganization and instability, as a result household type is controlled for in this analysis. Four household types are identified and dichotomized. The four household types include; two biological parents, single female headed, mother and new partner, and mother with other adults. Any mother indicating that they had a parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, aunt/uncle or a non-related adult over the age of 18 living in the household are identified as
“mother and other adults”. Two biological parents is used as the reference group in the multivariate analysis.
Prenatal Substance Use: Research indicates that prenatal substance use is an important factor contributing to childhood aggression. In addition, both teen mothers and those who become pregnant unintentionally are more likely to engage in prenatal substance use (Wright and Beaver,
2005). At the baseline interview, mothers were asked the following: during your pregnancy, how often did you (1) drink alcoholic beverages, (2) use drugs such as marijuana, crack cocaine, or heroin, (3) smoke cigarettes? Pregnant mothers are warned to abstain from alcohol, cigarettes, and illicit drug use because it not only affects the mother, but also places the newborn in danger.
Since a safe usage level has yet to be determined for any licit or illicit drug, it is recommended that pregnant women completely abstain (Gormly and Brodzinsky, 1989; Zuckerman and Brown, 31
1993). Because health professionals suggest that pregnant women should completely abstain from these substances, responses are dichotomized. Instead of analyzing the three substances separately, all three responses are combined to create one measure. Women who indicated that they had used alcohol, illicit drugs or cigarettes, are coded 1 (n=682), those who abstained from all three of the substances are coded as 0 (n=1998).
Physical Punishment: While focusing on the importance of consistent punishing, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) fail to recognize the potential harm physical punishment has on children.
Past research indicates that children who are physically punished tend to be more aggressive than their counterparts (Baumrind, 1994). Physical punishment is also associated with a variety of negative outcomes for the child including; anxiety, delinquency, antisocial behavior, and decreased quality of parent-child relationships (Slade and Wissow, 2004; Combs-Orme and
Cain, 2008). Physical punishment is measured using the follow question from the age three follow-up questionnaire; “Sometimes children behave pretty well and sometimes they don’t. In the past month, have you spanked (CHILD) because (he/she) was misbehaving or acting up?”
Mother’s who utilized spanking as a form of punishment are coded as 1, those who did not spank are coded as 0.
Failure to Monitor Scale: Parental monitoring is an important aspect of parental behavior in
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s theory. However, due to data restrictions, only two items which tap into monitoring behaviors were asked in the survey regarding the mother’s monitoring of the child. Mothers were asked to indicate how many times in the past year (ranging from never to more than twenty times) the mother did the following; “Had to leave your child home alone, even when you thought some adult should be with him/her” and “Were so drunk or high that you had a problem taking care of your child”. Even though these are extreme measures of 32 monitoring, the two items tap into the mother’s who are least likely and able to properly monitor their child. The two items were summed, with a range of 0 to 7, which higher scores indicating limited maternal monitoring. The scale measuring parental monitoring has an alpha of .411.
Analytic Approach
As stated previously, the primary focus of this study is to analyze the influence of unintended pregnancy on maternal bonding and involvement with the child and offspring aggression. It is proposed that having an unintended pregnancy will have a negative influence on maternal bonding and involvement ultimately resulting in aggressive behavior by the offspring.
Particular emphasis is placed on how maternal bonding mediates the effect of unintended pregnancy on aggressive behavior. Additionally, this paper analyzes how maternal bond and involvement are affected by an unintended pregnancy.
To analyze the influence unintended pregnancy has on maternal bonding, involvement with the child, and the child’s use of aggression, initial descriptive statistics are provided. Next, cross tabulation and mean comparisons across pregnancy intention status are conducted. The following are results from the correlation matrix which provides bivariate correlations for each study variable. Then, using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, this study analyzes how intention status of a pregnancy influences the child’s behavior, particularly looking at the mediating factors of maternal bond and involvement. For the above analyses, the following models are conducted. Model 1 regresses offspring aggression on unintended pregnancy and maternal age. In model 2, offspring aggression is regressed on unintended pregnancy, maternal age, and emotional bond. Model 3 regresses offspring aggression on unintended pregnancies, maternal age and maternal involvement. Model 4 then regresses physical aggression on both maternal bond and involvement, along with unintended pregnancy and intention status. Model 5 33 regresses physical aggression on all maternal demographic variables, having other children, and the child’s gender in addition to unintended pregnancy, maternal age, maternal bond and involvement. Model 6, the full model, regresses offspring aggression on all variables in model 5 and the remainder of the control variables, prenatal substance use, failure to monitor and physical punishment. Model 7 adds the teen/unintended pregnancy interaction term to the full model.
Finally, model 8 and model 9 regress maternal bond and maternal involvement on unintended pregnancies and all control variables, respectively.
34
CHAPTER III. RESULTS
Descriptive Statistics
Table 1 presents descriptive statistics for all study variables; including variable ranges, means/proportions, and standard deviations for the full sample. Approximately 28 percent of mothers reported that they had contemplated abortion upon discovery of the pregnancy. The proportion of unintended pregnancies within the current sample is substantially lower than that of the greater U.S. population. Within the United States, an estimated 50% of all pregnancies are unintended (Trussell, 2007). How intention status of pregnancy is measured in this study differs greatly from other analyses studying unintended pregnancies. Typically, researches make the distinction between unintended pregnancies being mistimed or unwanted (Santelli et al, 2000).
However with the data used, I was unable to make this distinction. Instead, I use the question,
“When you found out you were pregnant, did you think about having an abortion?” as a proxy for pregnancy intention status. Consequently, using this measure resulted in a conservative estimate of intention status. It is probable that other women in the study conceived their child unintentionally, yet did not consider abortion. Assumingly, using this measure captured the most extreme cases of unintended pregnancies; mothers ill-prepared to care for, and in most cases, and having a prior child. As a result, unintended pregnancy is likely to be under-reported within this analysis.
As intended by the original research design of Fragile Families, to understand the processes of “fragile families”, or those most likely to break-up or live in poverty, families from disadvantaged backgrounds were over-sampled. This involved an over-sampling of young mothers, minorities, women with little education and households living below the poverty line.
For the present study, maternal age at child’s birth ranges between 15 and 43, with a mean age of 35 respondents of 25 years. As past research indicates, African Americans have a higher probability of living in poverty and giving birth out of wedlock, therefore African Americans were over- sampled (Santelli et al, 2003; Musick, 2002). Approximately 50 percent of this sample is
African American; with the other three racial groups, White, Hispanic, and “other” each comprising less than 25 percent of the sample. Less than 40 percent of the mothers within the sample have less than a high school education, the remaining 60 percent of the sample have either a high school diploma or greater. Less than 30 percent of the sample lives below the poverty line, while approximately 60 percent of the mothers had a child prior to the focal child’s birth. Half of the mothers sampled were living with the child’s father at wave 3, 26 percent resided in single, female headed households, while the remaining 25 percent were either living with their partner or other adults. Twenty-five percent of the mothers used alcohol, drugs or cigarettes during their pregnancy, while 54 percent of the sample had spanked their child.
Bivariate Analysis
To gain a better understanding of mothers who conceived unintentionally, table 2 provides results from cross tabulation and means comparison analyses across pregnancy intention status. Mothers who reported having an unintended pregnancy were significantly younger than those mothers who did not. Of particular interest to my initial research questions, children born unintentionally were significantly more likely to utilize physical aggression, as opposed to their intended counterparts. It is also important to note that mothers who became pregnant unintentionally were statistically less likely to bond with and be involved with their child. In support of hypothesis 4, table 2 indicates that mothers whose pregnancies were unintended have a reduced bond with their child, which is significantly different from mothers who became pregnant intentionally. Additionally, mothers whose pregnancies were unintended 36 had a mean involvement score of 63.62 as opposed to intended mothers whose mean amount of involvement with her child is 65.39.
Consistent with previous literature (Musick, 2002), mothers whose pregnancies were unintended were more likely to be African American than mothers whose pregnancies were intended (70% vs. 44%), whereas intentional mothers were more likely to be White (27% vs.
11%), or Hispanic (26% vs. 17%) than unintended mothers.
Of those with an unintended pregnancy, only 4 percent were college graduates compared to 13 percent of mothers with intentional pregnancies. 29 percent of unintended mothers and 25 percent of intended mothers graduated high school. Approximately 41 percent of unintended mothers had less than a high school education compared to 37 percent of mothers who had an intended pregnancy. Of those who conceived unintentionally, 36 percent lived below the poverty line, while only 24 percent of intended mothers live below the poverty line. A significantly larger number of unintended mothers had children prior to the focal child’s birth compared to intended mothers (71% vs. 58%).
A larger percentage of mothers who gave birth intentionally lived with the child’s father at wave 3 as opposed to women who gave birth unintentionally (56% v. 35%). Whereas a substantially lower percentage of intended mothers reside in single, female headed households or live with another partner, 23% and 7% respectively, compared to those mothers who gave birth unintentionally (35% and 13%). Finally, 16 percent of unintended mothers were living with other adults at wave 3, versus 13 percent of intended mothers.
Mothers who became pregnant unintentionally were significantly more likely to engage in prenatal substance use than those mothers whose pregnancies were intended (35% vs. 22%).
Additionally, 60 percent of unintended mothers spanked their children, while 52 percent of 37 intended mothers did the same. Unintended mothers were also less likely to monitor to their children in comparison to mothers who became pregnant intentionally, as 11% reported significant failure to monitor their child, while only 5% of intended children did the same.
Table 3 provides results of the bivariate correlations for all study variables. A majority of the bivariate correlations between the major dependent and independent variables are moderately to strongly correlated with one another in the expected directions. Supporting hypothesis 1, pregnancy intention status is strongly correlated with childhood aggression in the positive direction, in that those children who were born unintentionally engaged in significantly more physical aggression than intended children. Unintended pregnancy is also strongly, yet negatively correlated with maternal age, bond, and involvement, with maternal bond having the strongest correlation with unintended pregnancy. These findings suggest that women with unintended pregnancies are likely to be younger, have a limited emotional bond with their child, and are less involved with their child than mothers whose pregnancies were intended. Being
African American is strongly correlated with having an unintended pregnancy, which was also previously indicated in table 2. One of the strongest bivariate relationships is the negative correlation between childhood aggression and mother’s emotional bond, suggesting that low maternal bond is associated with an increased use of physical aggression by the child.
Emotional bond is also highly correlated with maternal involvement in the positive direction, in that the stronger a mother’s bond, the more involved she is with her child.
In addition to maternal bond, childhood aggression is strongly correlated with lower maternal age and involvement. Maternal age has a strong, negative correlation with unintended pregnancies and physical aggression, yet it is not significantly associated with a mother’s emotional bond to her child. These findings at the bivariate level are noteworthy as prior 38 research suggests that adolescent females are ill prepared both physically and emotionally to be mothers at a young age (Geronimus, Korenman, and Himmemeier, 1994; Levine, Coll, and Oh,
2001). Rather, this current analysis suggests that intention status of a pregnancy may hinder mother’s bond to her child as opposed to being a young mother. As the bivariate results suggest, there appears be no problematic relationships among the focus variables that would suggest multicollinearity. In order to disentangle the relationships among unintended pregnancies, offspring aggression, maternal characteristics, bond and involvement, I analyze a series of OLS multivariate regression models.
Multivariate Analysis
Unintended Pregnancy and Offspring Aggression
Presented in table 4 are the results of OLS regression models examining the link between unintended pregnancy and the child’s physical aggression at age 5. Previous bivariate results indicate a strong correlation between unintended pregnancies and a child’s physical aggression, suggesting that children born unintentionally engage in more physically aggressive behavior than those who were born intentionally. Because previous literature indicates that maternal age is also a strong predictor of childhood aggression, childhood aggression is regressed on maternal age in addition to unintended pregnancy in model 1. Intention status of pregnancy is positively associated with offspring aggression while maternal age is negatively associated, indicating that intention status is related to greater offspring aggression, independent of mother’s age at birth.
Thus, unintended pregnancy and maternal age have distinct and statistically significant effects on childhood aggression. Maternal age and intention status of pregnancy both influence the child’s physical aggression, independent of each other. Interestingly, once controlling for both unintended pregnancy and maternal age, the two coefficients change dramatically compared 39 to their correlations with offspring aggression in table 3. When maternal age is controlled for in model 1 of table 4, the effect of unintended pregnancy on offspring aggression is magnified by approximately 77% ((.106-.060)/.060 = .7666). Whereas controlling for unintended pregnancy reduces the effect of maternal age on offspring aggression by 85% ((-.014+.096)/-.096 = -.8542).
While the effect of unintended pregnancy on offspring aggression is increased when controlling for maternal age, controlling for unintended pregnancy reduces the overall effect of maternal age on offspring aggression. This suggests that a large proportion of the maternal age effect is explained by having an unintended pregnancy.
Bond as a Mediator
Hypothesis 3 is partially tested in models 2, 3 and 4 of table 4. I posit that both maternal bond and involvement with the child are likely to mediate the relationship between unintended pregnancy and aggressive behavior. I initially examined the effects of bond and involvement separately in order to gain a better understanding of their individual influences on childhood aggression and then examine them simultaneously in model 4. In model 2, I regressed childhood aggression on unintended pregnancy, maternal age, and maternal bond. Although the effect of unintended pregnancy is still significant when bond is added to the model, the coefficient is reduced by about 26% ((0.078-0.106)/0.106 = -.26) when emotional bond is controlled. As predicted, maternal bond reduces the influence of unintended pregnancy on offspring aggression.
As table 3 indicated previously, maternal age and maternal bond were not significant at the bivariate level; therefore it is not surprising that maternal bond does not impact the maternal age coefficient in model 2.
To understand the influence maternal involvement has on childhood aggression, I regress childhood aggression on unintended pregnancy, maternal age and maternal involvement in model 40
3 of table 4. As model 3 indicates, including maternal involvement in the regression model reduces the magnitude of the unintended pregnancy coefficient, compared to model 1. While inclusion of maternal bond reduces the coefficient for intention of pregnancy by 26%, maternal involvement only reduces the unintended pregnancy coefficient by approximately 12% ((0.093-
0.106)/0.106 = -.1226). Additionally, unlike maternal bond, maternal involvement has a slight impact on the influence of mother’s age on aggression. As shown in table 3, the coefficient for maternal age slightly increases from models 1 to 3 when maternal involvement is added.
Results from models 2 and 3 indicate that maternal bond and involvement separately reduce the impact of unintended pregnancies on aggressive behavior; therefore model 4 adds both maternal bond and involvement simultaneously to get a better understanding of their joint impact on offspring aggression. In this case, the coefficient for unintended pregnancy coefficient is reduced to non-significance once both maternal bond and involvement are added to the analysis. With the addition of both bond and involvement, the impact of unintended pregnancies on childhood aggression is reduced by 33% ((0.071-0.106)/0.106 = -.3302). The reduction of unintended pregnancies to non-significance suggests the effect of intention status on offspring aggression may be a result of mediation. While the unintended pregnancy coefficient is reduced slightly when controlling for maternal bond and involvement separately, the addition of both bond and involvement in model 4 reduces the unintended pregnancy to non-significance. As predicted, maternal bond and involvement appear to mediate the effect of unintended pregnancy and childhood aggression. Results suggest mediation such that the effect of unintended pregnancy operates through maternal bond and involvement. When a mother is not bonded to her child, she is unlikely to engage in other parental behaviors, placing her child at greater risk for aggressive behavior (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). 41
Unintended Pregnancies
In model 5, demographic control variables are added to the previous model, regressing childhood aggression on unintended pregnancies, maternal age, emotional bond, maternal involvement, race/ethnicity, education, living below the poverty line, other children, household type, child’s gender. Net of control variables and each other, maternal bond and maternal involvement each remain independently and statistically associated with childhood aggression.
Mothers who fail to develop a strong emotional bond with their child have children who engage in more physical aggression. Similarly, mothers who are not involved in their child’s everyday activities have more physically aggressive offspring. Significant effects of both emotional bond and involvement are found even when controlling for one another, indicating that each has an independent effect on physical aggression.
Inconsistent with past literature, (Geronimus, Korenman, and Himmemeier, 1994; Brown and Eisenberg, 1995; Hotz, McElory, and Sanders, 1997), age remains significantly related to childhood aggression despite controlling for maternal demographic characteristics. Combs-
Orme and Cain (2008) indicate that because maternal age is an indicator of a combination of factors related to parental behaviors, age should be reduced to non-significance once controlling for negative maternal characteristics. Younger mothers are more likely to be unmarried, poor, and they are also less educated, all of which are typically associated with a lack of experience.
However, this analysis indicates that maternal age remains a significant predictor of offspring aggression, regardless of maternal characteristics. Combs-Orme and Cain (2008) state that many of the demographic characteristics most associated with young motherhood cannot be statistically controlled for, yet in the present analyses I have attempted to control for key 42 demographic characteristics likely related to age. Nonetheless, maternal age remains significantly associated with offspring’s physical aggression.
While previous models indicate that maternal bond and involvement reduce the effect on aggressive behavior to non-significance, adding maternal demographic control variables further reduces the magnitude of the coefficient. As model 5 indicates, the addition of demographic controls reduces the intention status coefficient by almost 72% ((0.020 -0.071)/0.071 = -.7183).
Consistent with past research, (Baydar and Grady, 1993; Goto et al. 2006; Najman et al. 1991;
Joyce et al., 2000; Santelli et al., 2003), controlling for maternal race, education, poverty, having other children, household type and child’s gender in model 5, the unintended pregnancy coefficient is reduced to non-significance. One possible explanation is that physical aggression among unintended offspring is related to maternal characteristics of mothers likely to have an unintended pregnancy (poor, lack of education) rather than the intention status of the pregnancy.
Maternal characteristics often associated with having an unintended pregnancy, being young, uneducated and having limited social and financial resources, are also all factors which independently increase childhood aggression.
Controlling for other variables, children born to Hispanic mothers were significantly less aggressive than children born to White mothers, while African-American and other race/ethnicity mothers did not differ from Whites. Model 5 also controls for maternal educational attainment. Results indicate that mothers whose educational attainment is at a high school level or below, are more likely to have children who engage in aggressive behavior, than those children born to college graduates, when controlling for maternal age, race, economic disadvantage, having other children, household type and child’s gender. Model 5 also indicates that children living below the poverty line are slightly more aggressive, while being male and 43 having older siblings also increases the child’s physical aggression, all which are consistent with past research.
Also included in model 5 is the household type of the respondents. Coefficients for all household types (single mother, mother and partner, and other adults) are positively and significantly different from two parent biological households. This indicates that children from two parent biological households are less likely to engage in physical aggression than any other household type.
In model 6 of table 4, three key control variables are added; prenatal substance use, maternal use of physical punishment, and mother’s failure to monitor the child. With the addition of these variables, unintended pregnancy remains a non-significant predictor of childhood aggression. Coefficients for both maternal bond and involvement are marginally reduced, yet remain significant when controlling for prenatal substance use, physical punishment, and the mother’s failure to monitor. Hispanics are no longer differ from whites when controlling for these three additional variables. Furthermore, once these three variables are added into the model, the coefficient for having less than a high school education is no longer significant.
Consistent with previous research (Banwell and Bammer, 2006), model 6 indicates that prenatal substance use is highly predictive of childhood physical aggression, even when controlling for maternal bond, involvement, maternal demographic characteristics, having other children, household type, child’s gender, use of physical punishment and failure to monitor. This suggests that children exposed to alcohol, cigarettes or illicit drugs while in the womb are more likely to exhibit physical aggression at age five. Additionally, spanking at age 3 is associated with higher rates of aggression at age 5. Previous literature indicates that children who are 44 spanked at an early age learn to use physical aggression as they get older as a coping or coercive tactic (Slade and Wissow, 2004). However, failure to monitor is not significantly associated with childhood aggression.
Interaction of Maternal Age and Unintended Pregnancy
In model 7, table 4, I test hypothesis 3, which predicts that the interaction of maternal age and unintended pregnancy, would magnifying the child’s physical aggression. A majority of past research indicates that teenage motherhood is a high predictor of offspring aggressive behavior (Hardy et al., 1998; Moore, Morrison, and Greene, 1997), while limited research has studied the effects of unintended pregnancies on aggression. To test hypothesis 3, an interaction term for the interaction of age and unintended pregnancy is added to the full model. However, as seen in model 7, the interaction term is non-significant controlling for all other control and independent variables. Thus the effect of pregnancy intention status does not depend on the mother’s age at delivery. I hypothesized being a younger mother would magnify or increase the negative consequences of having an unintended pregnancy. However the non-significant finding suggests that age and unintended pregnancy separately impact childhood aggression rather than operating in conjunction with one another. This non-significant finding suggests two things. First, the negative impact of maternal age on offspring aggression does not depend on a mother’s pregnancy intention. Additionally, the effect of having an unintended pregnancy does not depend on the mother’s age.
Unintended Pregnancy, Emotional Bond and Involvement
As previous bivariate and multivariate analyses indicated, maternal bond and involvement are each significantly and independently associated with a child’s aggressive behavior. Yet, it is also imperative to understand how the mother’s bond and involvement are 45 influenced by her unintended pregnancy. In hypothesis 4, I predicted that unintended pregnancies would hinder both the mother’s bond to and involvement with her child. Hypothesis
4 is presented in models 8 and 9 of table 5. First, in model 8, I regress maternal bond on all independent and control variables. The unintended pregnancy coefficient is negatively associated with the mother’s bond with her child. As previous research indicates (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999), and as predicted in hypothesis 4, having an unintended pregnancy is significantly associated with a decrease in the mother’s emotional bond with her child, when controlling for maternal involvement and all other control variables. This suggests that mothers who give birth unintentionally may have a greater difficultly forming an emotional bond with their child. Conversely, as suggested by the previous bivariate results, in the multivariate analysis maternal age is not related to a mother’s emotional bond with her child. Even though maternal age is significantly associated with offspring aggression, age is unrelated to a mother’s emotional bond with her child.
Furthermore, maternal involvement is significantly associated with a mother’s bond with her child when controlling for all other variables. As model 8 indicates, mothers who are more involved in the daily activities of their child are also likely to have a stronger emotional bond with their child. However, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) suggest it may also be that mothers who are bonded with their child are motivated to appropriately parent the child, from simple involvement to punishment of deviant behaviors.
Turning to control variables, mothers in the “other” race category were significantly less bonded with their child than White mothers. However, mother’s education, low income, and having other children were not statistically associated with the mother’s bond with her child. In contrast, single mothers living alone are significantly less likely to feel a bond with their child as 46 compared to mothers living with the child’s biological father. It is likely that having a reduced maternal bond is influenced by raising a child by oneself. Additionally, mothers who live with other adults are also less likely to have a high bond with their children compared to mothers living with the biological father. It is possible that instability of a household may result in an increased amount of stress for any given person, adding to the pressures already associated with caring for a child. As a consequence of these stresses, mothers may have a limited ability to form an emotional bond with her child.
As might be expected, mothers who engaged in prenatal substance use also have a reduced bond with their child. Previous research suggests that mothers who are pregnant have an increased risk of prenatal substance abuse because of their limited bond for their newly conceived child (Wright and Beaver, 2005). Therefore it is not surprising that mothers who used alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes during pregnancy are less likely to form a bond with their child.
Mothers who spanked their children and/or who left their children unsupervised are also less likely to form a bond with their child. These findings are consistent with prior research which suggests unintended mothers are more likely to spank their children (Joyce, Kaestner, and
Korenman, 2000) and that mothers who are not bonded with their children are less likely to monitor their behavior (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990).
Turning to model 9, I regressed maternal involvement on all independent and control variables. As seen in model 8, having an unintended pregnancy was significantly associated with a decrease in a mother’s bond with her child. In contrast, model 9 indicates that maternal involvement is not influenced by having an unintended pregnancy once controlling for all other variables. Unintended pregnancy and maternal involvement are significantly associated at the bivariate level; therefore it is probable that the various control and independent variables mediate 47 the relationship between intention status and maternal involvement. These findings partially support Barber and colleagues (1999) findings which conclude that mothers who give birth unintentionally have overall lower quality relationships with their child, including being less likely to spend time with that child.
While maternal age is not associated with maternal bond, maternal age is significantly
associated with maternal involvement with her offspring. Young mothers are less likely to be
involved with their children compared to their older counterparts. Even though younger mothers
are less likely to be involved with their children, it does not mean that they are also less likely to
be bonded to their child. In this analysis, African Americans, and Hispanics are less likely to be
involved with their children than White mothers, controlling for other variables in the model.
Additionally, mothers who did not graduate high school are less likely to be involved with their
children than mothers who are college graduates.
As might be expected, even when controlling for a number of factors, mothers who had
children prior to the focal child’s birth are also less involved with their child than those mothers
who do not have older children. One viable explanation is that mothers with more than one child
are not able to be as involved as mothers of single children. Specifically, more children equates
to less time a that mother is able to devote to each individual child. It is also possible that the
mother may rely on older children to help care for her younger children. Interestingly, neither
household type nor failure to monitor are related to involvement, but were both related to bond,
whereas mothers who spank their children are significantly less likely to be involved. Similar to
the findings of Luster and Mittelstaedt, (1993) children born to teen mothers are more likely to
grow up in more punitive, yet less involved environments than children born to older mothers. 48
In this analysis, even with the addition of a number of control variables, maternal involvement with her child is highly correlated with one’s emotional bond, and vice versa.
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) suggest that a mother must feel a bond with her child in order for her to engage in the proper parental behaviors like monitoring and punishing. It seems probable that a mother’s bond with her child would also motivate her to engage in everyday parenting activities such as reading stories, taking the child to visit relatives and helping with chores.
When a parent does not develop a strong bond with her child, it is unlikely that they would be motivated enough to involve themselves with the child. In addition, many of the involvement measures could also be used to measure a mother’s bond with her child. Therefore it is possible that the involvement and emotional bond scales are both measuring distinct aspects of the same concept, maternal bond.
49
CHAPTER IV. DISCUSSION
Previous literature has failed to analyze the effect of unintended pregnancies and maternal bonding and/or involvement on offspring physical aggression. Rather, prior research on childhood aggression focused primarily on the influence of maternal age. As hypothesized, the present analyses indicate intention status of a mother’s pregnancy does increase the probability of the child’s physical aggression. While maternal age is also predictive of increased offspring aggression, the effect of age is significantly reduced once accounting for the intention status of the pregnancy.
I find considerable support for hypothesis 1, which proposed that children born unintentionally would be more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior. At the bivariate level, children born unintentionally are more physically aggressive than those children who were born intentionally. And, when controlling for maternal age, intention status of the pregnancy remains a significant predictor of offspring aggression. This is an important finding because prior research has continuously suggested that being a young mother at conception is a primary factor correlated with increased physical aggression utilized by her child (Tremblay et al., 2004; Nagin and Tremblay, 1999; Shaw et al, 2003; Cote et al., 2006). This analysis suggests that both maternal age and intention status of the pregnancy independently increase the child’s use of physical aggression.
In hypothesis 2, I predicted that maternal bond and involvement would mediate the relationship between pregnancy intention and physical aggression. It is not until both maternal bond and involvement are added to the model that pregnancy intention no longer significantly predicts aggression. Thus, the above findings suggest that emotional bond and maternal involvement each have a distinct impact on childhood aggression. I find that the effect of 50 unintended pregnancies on childhood aggression is mediated by maternal bond and involvement separately. In these analyses, inclusion of the mother’s emotional bond scale reduces the effect of unintended pregnancy on childhood aggression by 26%. While in model 3, when maternal involvement is added, the unintended pregnancy coefficient is reduced by 12%. However, once emotional bond and maternal involvement are added simultaneously in model 4, unintended pregnancy is no longer significantly related to aggression, suggesting that jointly bond and involvement mediate the relationship between unintended pregnancy and childhood aggression.
This implies that the effect of an unintended pregnancy on a child’s use of physical aggression operates through a mother’s bond and involvement with her child.
Additionally, as Skolnick (1986) suggests, “The emotional quality of the interaction between a child and an adult, not the amount of time it lasts or the content, seems to be crucial for attachment” (p.206). Therefore it is not surprising that a mother’s limited emotional bond with her child is a greater predictor of physical aggression than being involved with the child’s daily activities. Intuitively, it is the mothers bond with her child which motivates her to engage in her daily responsibilities as a parental figure. Mothers who do not form an emotional bond with their child are unlikely to tell their child that they love them consistently, or take them to visit relatives on the weekends.
Consistent with past literature (Geronimus, Korenman, and Himmemeier, 1994; Levine,
Coll, and Oh, 2001), this analysis found that maternal age does impact the child’s development of aggression. When maternal demographics are controlled for, being a young mother remains a significant predictor of offspring aggression behavior, even when controlling for all other variables. These findings suggest that it is not necessarily children born to teen mothers who act aggressively, rather younger mothers in general have more aggressive children. In order to 51 understand the link between maternal age and childhood aggression, I examined the effect of teen mothers specifically by dichotomizing age into the categories 15-19 and 20+. In preliminary analyses, maternal age and offspring aggression were not significant at the bivariate level. So when age is categorized in this manner, children of teen mothers did not differ from those of older mothers in their aggressive behavior. This non-significance suggests that teen mothers may not be the primary source of aggressive children; rather it may be initiating childbirth at a young age. Even though the mean age of this sample is 24, for many of these women, the focal child is not their first child. Therefore it appears that many of these mothers had their first child at a young age, possibly during their teen years. It is possible having additional children creates a major strain for these women, many of whom are already disadvantaged. When additional children are added to an already burdened household, this creates stress for not only the caregivers but also the children.
In the third hypothesis for these analyses, I predicted that age and unintended pregnancy would interact to increase offspring physical aggression. However, no support was found for this hypothesis. This suggests that being a younger mother does not magnify the effect of having an unintended pregnancy, or vice versa, rather each has an independent impact oh childhood aggression. Because age and intention status of a pregnancy do not jointly influence the child’s aggression, it is necessary to understand how each characteristic impacts offspring aggression separately. As this analysis has shown, being a young mother is associated with higher levels of offspring physical aggression, regardless of all other variables. Additionally, having an unintended pregnancy is associated with higher levels of offspring aggression. However, the effect of unintended pregnancy appears to be indirect, operating through maternal bond and involvement. 52
Models 8 and 9 of table 4 tested hypothesis four, in which I predicted that having an unintended pregnancy is likely to inhibit both maternal bond and involvement with her child.
Half of hypothesis 4 was supported in these models. Having an unintended pregnancy is associated with a weaker mother-child emotional bond. In contrast, unintended pregnancy is not related to a mother’s involvement with her child, once controlling for a number of demographic and control variables. This suggests that the negative effects of unintended childbearing may not be direct, but operate through a mother’s bond and indirectly on offspring aggression. Barber and colleagues (1999) found that mothers with unwanted children have lower quality relationships with their child. Lower quality relationships are likely to last throughout adulthood, indicating that it is vital for emotional relationships to develop between parent and child, beginning at a very early age (Barber et al., 1999).
Even though emotional bond and involvement are highly predictive of one another, they also independently predict offspring physical aggression. Results from models 7, 8, and 9 suggest that there are different mechanisms at play for the separate response variables. While being young and having other children are both predictive of higher childhood aggression and maternal involvement, neither variable influences the mother’s bond with her child, when controlling for other variables, whereas intention status of the pregnancy is associated with a mothers bond with her child, but not involvement, once all other variables are controlled. These findings suggest that being young and having an unintended pregnancy may each be independently detrimental to a child’s socialization. Younger mothers spend less time with their children, in turn these children are more likely to use physical aggression. Additionally, becoming pregnant unintentionally reduces a mother’s emotional bond with her child, which also increases her offspring’s use of physical aggression. Therefore it is necessary to take both 53 intention status and age of mother into consideration in understanding a child’s use of physical aggression.
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) indicate that parenting practices utilized during the first years of a child’s life are most vital to the development of the child’s self-control. When a parent is attached to the child, he/she is assumed to be vested in the child’s wellbeing, and is therefore more willing to monitor, identify and punish deviant and aggressive behaviors
(Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990). This analysis found support for Gottfredson and Hirschi’s
(1990) theory, particularly for the attachment aspect of their theory. Evidence suggests children whose mothers who are unattached to them are more likely to use physical aggression. In addition, mothers who spank and who fail to properly monitor their children also have a reduced bond with their child. It may be that mothers who spank their child do so, partly as a result of their limited bond with their child. Mothers who are unattached to their children may have greater difficulty engaging in supervision and involvement with their child because of the limited motivation to care for the child and may thus play a critical role in the development of aggressive behavior and low self-control.
Previous psychological literature suggests that having a reduced maternal bond negatively impacts the child’s future development (Skolnick, 1986). Mothers who do not form a special bond when their child is young, typically have children who are insecurely attached
(Baydar and Grady,1993). The above findings suggest that as a result of an unintended pregnancy, mother’s are less likely to form a strong bond with their child, which then increases the child’s use of physical aggression. It is likely that children who are insecurely attached to their mothers are more susceptible to physical, emotional, and behavioral problems (Gormly and
Brodzinsky, 1989). In addition, poor quality parent-child relationships are associated with 54 psychological distress, learning disabilities and anxiety disorders for the children (Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999). The insecurities which develop as a result of poorly attached relationships to parental figures are also likely to negatively impact the child’s future relationships.
Results from this study suggest that a mother’s limited emotional bond with her unintended child is likely to increase the child’s aggressive behavior. However, it is still unclear exactly why these children act out aggressively. One explanation is that children may sense the tension and as a result, they act out aggressively to release their own frustration. An additional explanation is that when a mother does not develop an emotional bond with her child, her child is unlikely to develop a healthy attachment to his/her mother. Children who are unattached to their parents are typically unattached to other adults and social institutions. Hirschi’s (1969) social bond theory indicates that attachment to others is the most important agent of social control.
Individuals who are attached to their parents, school, and society are likely to refrain from criminal behavior because of these attachments. It is possible that children who are born unintentionally have a greater probability of engaging in criminal activity as a result of their poor attachment, caused by their mothers inability to properly bond with their child. However, because the study is unable to gain information about the child’s attachment to their mother, these explanations are only speculative.
While criminological literature on the development of aggression and self-control has largely concentrated on teenage pregnancy, psychological literature has focused on the negative impacts of unintended pregnancy on a mother’s emotional bond with her child (Gormly and
Brodzinsky, 1989; Hope, Wilder, and Watt, 2003; Hardy et al., 1998; Moore, Morrison, and
Greene, 1997; Barber, Axinn and Thornton, 1999; Santelli et al, 2003; Joyce, Kaestner, and
Korenman, 2000). However, both criminological and psychological literatures have failed to 55 examine the link between intention status of a pregnancy and aggressive behavior. To fill the gap within the literatures, this analysis focused on the impact of unintended pregnancies on the child’s physical aggression, paying particular attention to the mediating factors of the mother’s bond to and involvement with her child. As this analysis indicates, having an unintended pregnancy is associated with use of physical aggression by the offspring. And it appears that the effect of unintended pregnancies on physical aggression is mediated by maternal bond and involvement.
Limitations
While the current research provides new understanding to the development of aggression within criminological literature, limitations need to be addressed. First, researchers who study unintended pregnancies grapple with how to measure intention status. The current analysis measures unintended pregnancy utilizing the following question, “When you found out you were pregnant, did you think about having an abortion?” Asking a mother her consideration of having an abortion is a proxy and a conservative measure of unintended pregnancy. Not all women who become pregnant unintentionally contemplate abortion while not all those who think about abortion had an unplanned pregnancy. Approximately 28 percent of the sample indicated that they had thought about an abortion while pregnant. This is lower than the greater population, for within the United States, an estimated 50% of all pregnancies are unintended
(Trussell, 2007). Some women view abortion as immoral, an act that would never be considered; while others may contemplate abortion if their life or their child’s health is in danger. It is possible that additional women in the study had an unintended pregnancy, yet did not consider abortion. Therefore, using this measure captured the most extreme cases of unintended pregnancies; mothers who were ill-prepared to care for and in most cases, an additional child. 56
As a result, the measure of unintended pregnancies is likely to be under-reported within this analysis.
Additionally, there is difficultly measuring intention status of a pregnancy in general because a mother’s intent regarding her pregnancy may change over time. The unintended pregnancy measure does not take into account that a mother’s opinion at time of conception may change throughout the pregnancy process. Valentine (1982) argued that how parents deal with a pregnancy will influence their post-natal adjustments once the child is born. If a mother does not come to grips with her pregnancy, it is unlikely that she will engage in the proper parenting techniques. Therefore it is not definite from this research if the unintended mothers changed their behaviors once the child was born.
The current measure of maternal bond is limited by data constraints as well. Half of the questions used to tap into maternal bond highlight the stresses of motherhood as a whole, while the other 4 questions measured the stresses associated with the focal child. Because the maternal bond measure was created using 8 questions, 4 of which tapped into the stresses of parenthood in general, findings may partially be a result of stress due to having a large family, in addition to having an unintended pregnancy. Therefore, future analyses should separate the 8 questions used to create the bond scale and separate them into two measures; one looking at family stress and the other looking at stress caused by the specific child.
Additionally, the questions measuring maternal bond appear to be measuring maternal stress associated with having a family and the focal child, as opposed to maternal bond with the child. It appears as though the emotional bond scale is measuring the mothers stress level.
Because this analysis did not control for the mother’s mental health, it is unknown how depression or stress are correlated with the emotional bond measure. The measure for maternal 57 monitoring is also a very conservative measure of a mother’s monitoring behaviors. The questions measuring the mother’s use of monitoring within the Fragile Families data set asked how often the mother had been too drunk or high to care for the child, and how many times she had left her children home alone even though she knew an adult should be with them. Although these are two extreme examples of failing to monitor one’s child, these are the only questions measuring maternal monitoring. In addition, Fragile Families sample focuses on just that,
“fragile families”, therefore these findings cannot be generalized to the entire national population.
Although Fragile Families data are longitudinal, caution still needs to be used when drawing casual inferences. Attempts to increase the confidence of casual order were taken in this analysis through using maternal measures at age three and child behavioral measures age five; however casual order is still not definite. Additionally, a mother may report a limited bond with her child as a result of the child’s aggressive behavior at age 3. Because this analysis does not control for childhood aggression at age 3, it is unknown how the child’s aggression influences the mother’s bond with her child. It is possible that there is a reciprocal relationship between maternal bond and offspring aggression (at age 3), in that mothers report a limited bond with their child because the child is overly aggressive as well as the reverse. As Tremblay (2004) indicates, physical aggression begins to develop within the first year after birth, its frequency then increases rapidly throughout the second and third years of life, and then decreases gradually.
Therefore it is intuitive to believe that aggression at age 3 could influence the mother’s bond with her child.
58
Policy Implications
These findings have important implications for social programming. The sample used in this study is largely comprised of women from the lower class, those who are more likely to have negative outcomes throughout life, regardless of the intention status of their pregnancy.
Therefore it is necessary for policies to help increase the life chances of these disadvantaged females, and especially increase the life chances for their children. As this analysis has indicated, children born to poor, young mothers are at higher risk of becoming physically aggressive, independent of being born unintentionally. As such, it is imperative for social programming to focus on increasing the chances of these children born in disadvantaged areas.
Furthermore, as this analysis has indicated, mothers who give birth unintentionally are at higher risk of raising children more prone to aggressive behavior, regardless of age. Giving birth unintentionally and being young are associated with a number of characteristics often associated with a child’s use physical aggression. As Tremblay and colleagues (2004) indicated, “It logically follows that interventions involving at-risk young girls and their mate before, during, and after pregnancy should be the most cost-effective form of prevention intervention” (p.244).
Reducing the amount of unintended, teenage pregnancies would be a highly effective way of reducing the amount of aggressive children within society. Programs should be created to encourage delaying parenthood until the individual is both emotionally and physically prepared to take on the responsibility of caring for another. By not delaying parenthood until one is prepared, the parents are placing both themselves and their child at risk for future emotional, physical and psychological problems.
However, it may not be realistic to fully eliminate unintended pregnancies therefore it is important to address the needs of unintended children, and individuals at risk for unintended 59 parenthood, in addition to classes which teach the skills necessary to be a successful parent should be implemented. Once a young woman becomes pregnant, parenting classes should be offered for both her and her partner. Not only should these classes focus on how to physically care for the child, but classes should also reinforce the importance of emotionally bonding with the child for mothers of all ages. As this analysis has shown, mothers who have a limited bond with their child are likely to have children who use excessive amounts of physical aggression.
As such, a strong emotional bond with one’s child is necessary for the healthy development of that child. In addition, it may be beneficial to implement parenting classes beginning in high school for all students, not just for those who become pregnant. Teaching individuals the difficulties of parenthood at a young age may be a successful deterrent for future generations.
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“The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study was supported by Grant Number R01HD36916 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD). The contents of the paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NICHD.”
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APPENDIX
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics for Study Variables
Variables Range Mean Standard Deviation
Offspring Aggression (log) -0.69 - 2.53 0.082 0.913 Unintended pregnancy 0-1 0.28 0.448 Maternal age at birth 15-43 25.14 6.042 Emotional bond scale -15.72 - 10.42 0.41 4.961 Involvement scale 0 - 91 64.89 11.752 Maternal race White 0-1 0.22 0.461 African American 0-1 0.51 0.499 Hispanic 0-1 0.24 0.425 Other^ 0-1 0.03 0.375 Education Less than H.S. 0-1 0.38 0.485 High school graduate 0-1 0.26 0.439 Some college 0-1 0.25 0.435 College Graduate 0-1 0.11 0.311
Below poverty line 0-1 0.27 0.446 Other maternal children 0-1 0.62 0.486 Household type Mother and father 0-1 0.51 0.500 Single mother 0-1 0.26 0.233 Mother and partner 0-1 0.09 0.288 Mother and Other adults 0-1 0.14 0.112
Focal child's gender 0-1 0.52 0.500 Prenatal substance use 0-1 0.25 0.436 Physical punishment 0-1 0.54 0.498 Failure to monitor scale 0-7 0.07 0.484 n = 2680 ^other race includes Asian, American Indian, Eskimo and Pacific Islander *p < .05 **p < .01 *** p < .001 68
Table 2. Cross Tabulation and Mean Comparisons Across Pregnancy Intention Status
Variables Unintended Pregnancy No Yes Total Offspring Aggression (log) 0.05 0.17** 2680
Maternal age at birth 25.46 24.31*** 2680
Emotional bond scale 0.72 -0.38*** 2680 Involvement scale 65.39 63.62*** 2680 Maternal race White 0.27 0.11*** 592 African American 0.44 0.70*** 1374 Hispanic 0.26 0.17*** 633 Other^ 0.03 0.02 81
Education Less than H.S. 0.37 0.41* 1010 High school graduate 0.25 0.29* 699 Some college 0.25 0.25 677 College Graduate 0.13 0.04*** 291
Below poverty line 0.24 0.36*** 733
Other maternal children 0.58 0.71*** 1655
Household type Mother and father 0.56 0.35** 1354 Single mother 0.23 0.35*** 706 Mother and partner 0.07 0.13*** 254 Mother and Other adults 0.13 0.16* 375
Focal child's gender 0.52 0.48 1397
Prenatal substance use 0.22 0.35*** 682
Physical punishment 0.52 0.60*** 1454
Failure to monitor scale 0.05 0.11** 2680
n = 2680 ^other race includes Asian, American Indian, Eskimo and Pacific Islander *p < .05 **p < .01 *** p < .001
69
41** .018 1.00 062** .042* .052** 1.00 ** -.128** 1.00 49* .052** .016 -.015 1.00 Table 3. Bivariate Correlation Matrix for Study Variables Study for Matrix Correlation Bivariate 3. Table -.141** -.099** .009 1.00 -.059** .172* .186** .050* .105** 1.00 CA UP MA EB-.096** -.085** 1.00 IS W AA H-.049* O -.102** -.056** 0.003-.031 LHS -.047* -.017 -.296** HS -.570** .066** 1.00 -.035 SC .020-.045* CG -.094** -.181** .001 -.098** 1.00 BPL .097** .089 OMC BBP .055** .042* SM .012 MP -.058** .008.098** MOA -.452** .128** -.345** -.011 1.00 CG -.088** -.010 -.161** PSU .253** -.129** -.026 PP .037 .044* FM .013 -.138** .258** .065** -.604** 1.00 -.103** -.016 -.001 -.027 -.002 .010 .012 -.028 .012 -.008 .011 -.019 .025 .012 -.018 -.021 -.007 .027 .016 1.00 Involvement Scale (IS)White (W) African American (AA) -.082** -.068**Hispanic -.053** (H) .166** 1.00 .101** .236** -.130** -.031 -.054** -.546** 1.00 Child's Aggression (CA)Unintended P regnancy (UP)Maternal Age (MA) 1.00 .060** 1.00Emotional Bond (EB) Other (O) Less than High School (LHS)High School Graduate (HS) .098** .039*Some College (SC) -.280** -.101** .017 -.076** -.182**College Graduate .008 (CG) .044* .188** -.057**Below the Povery -.008 Line -.047* (BPL) 1.00 -.009Other Maternal .107** Children (OMC) -.116** -.066** .121** -.131** .112** .118** .377** -.117**Both ParentsBio .124** -.079** .047* -.058** (BBP) -.058** -.040* .307** -.129** .055** -.066** -.462** .118** MotherSingle -.129** 1.00 .320**(SM) -.090** -.002 .105** -.195** -.129** -.032 -.025 .114**Mother and P artner -.151** (MP) -.271** -.207** -.009 .145** -.190** .229** -.203** .076**Mother 1.00 and .108** Other .081** Adults (MOA) -.108** .014 -.182** .044* .011 1.00 .059** .042* -.219** -.062** .083** -.299** -.054** .111** -.193** -.149** .057** -.026 -.022 .066** 1.00 -.114** -.012 -.073** .005 .031 -.085** -.032 .049* .240** -.220** .044* .074** .052** -.048* 1.00 -.046* -.018 .050** .027 .082** .027 -.007** -.106** -.033 -.065** -.077** .026 -.167** -.408** -.241 .013 -.321** -.190** 1.00 Child's Gender (CG) Prenatal Substance Use (PSU)Physical P .103** unishment (PP) .136** .046*Failure to Monitor (FM) -.089** -.018 .102** .156** .067** -.074** -.005 -.104** -.077** .024 -.006 -.131** -.038* .110** .136** .058** -.115** -.039* -.008 -.022 -.064** -.113** -.066** -.045* .004 .049* .023 .076** -.020 -.085** .0 .049* .033 -.036 -.012 -.011 -.016 -.057** -.029 .071** -.011 -.015 -.040* .000 -.039* .013 . .051** -.024 .030 .012 -.014 -.010 -.0 n = 2680 ** = . 01 * = .05 70
Table 4. Coefficients from the OLS Regression of Childhood Aggression (scaled and logged) on Selected Independent Variables: Children at Age 5, Fragile Families^
Independent Variable Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5 Model 6 Model 7
Unintended pregnancy 0.106 ** 0.078 * 0.093 * 0.071 -0.020 -0.045 -0.008 0.039 0.039 0.039 0.039 0.039 0.040 0.165
Maternal age at birth -0.014 *** -0.014 *** -0.015 *** -0.014 *** -0.013 *** -0.014 *** -0.013 *** 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.003 0.004 Emotional Bond Scale — -0.025 *** — -0.023 *** -0.019 *** -0.017 *** -0.017 *** 0.004 0.004 0.004 0.004 0.004 Involvement Scale ——-0.007*** -0.005 *** -0.004 * -0.003 * -0.003 * 0.002 0.002 0.001 0.001 0.001 Maternal race (White) African American —— — —-0.008 0.019 0.020 0.048 0.049 0.049 Hispanic — — — — -0.117 * -0.054 -0.054 0.054 0.055 0.055
Other —— — —-0.110 -0.065 -0.064 0.104 0.104 0.104 Education (College graduate) Less than high school —— — —0.162 * 0.121 0.122 0.071 0.072 0.072
High school graduate —— — —0.106 0.079 0.080 0.070 0.069 0.069
Some college —— — —0.098 0.071 0.072 0.067 0.067 0.067 Below poverty line —— — —0.094 * 0.096 * 0.096 * 0.041 0.040 0.041 Other maternal children —— — —0.236 *** 0.241 *** 0.241 *** 0.039 0.039 0.039 Household type (mother & father) Single mother —— — —0.176 *** 0.175 *** 0.176 *** 0.045 0.045 0.045
Mother and partner —— — —0.176 ** 0.171 ** 0.171 ** 0.063 0.063 0.063 Mother and other adults — — — — 0.182 *** 0.167 ** 0.167 ** 0.054 0.054 0.054 Focal child's gender (female) —— — —0.181 *** 0.178 *** 0.178 *** Male 0.034 0.034 0.034 Prenatal substance use —— — — 0.147 *** 0.148 *** 0.041 0.041 Physical punishment —— — — — 0.142 *** 0.142 *** 0.035 0.035
Failure to Monitor scale —— — — —-0.005 -0.005 0.035 0.035
Maternal age*Unintended pregnancy —— — — — —-0.002 0.007
Intercept 0.052 ** 0.070 *** 0.481 *** 0.395 *** -0.095 -0.232 -0.234 F 16.00 *** 27.74 *** 17.14 *** 23.63 *** 14.50 *** 13.95 *** 13.25 *** R² 0.012 0.030 0.019 0.034 0.080 0.091 0.091 Adjusted R² 0.011 0.029 0.018 0.032 0.075 0.084 0.084
Note: Bold numbers are the standard errors; N = 2,680. *p<.05 **p<.01 ***p.001
^Analyses for multicollinearity were conducted, results indicate that collinearity is not a problem amongst study variables.
71
Table 5. Coefficients from the OLS Regression of Maternal Bond and Involvement (scaled) on Selected Independent Variables: Mothers at Wave 3, Fragile Families
Independent Variable Model 8: Bond Model 9: Involvement
Unintended pregnancy -0.592 ** -0.787 0.219 0.523
Maternal age at birth -0.016 -0.161 *** 0.019 0.045
Emotional bond scale — 0.338 *** 0.046
Involvement scale 0.059 *** — 0.008 Maternal Ethnicity (White) African American 0.282 -2.351 *** 0.258 0.615 Hispanic 0.483 -2.112 ** 0.326 0.772
Other -0.912 ** -1.391 0.320 0.765 Education (College graduate) Less than high school -0.533 -2.111 * 0.391 0.933
High school graduate -0.121 -1.270 0.381 0.909
Some college 0.524 -0.351 0.362 0.867
Below poverty line -0.327 -0.880 0.221 0.526 Other maternal children -0.299 -2.070 *** 0.213 0.507 Household Type (mother & father) Single mother -1.058 *** 0.892 0.243 0.581
Mother and partner -0.614 0.574 0.345 0.824
Mother and other adults -0.733 * -0.293 0.294 0.702
Focal child's gender (female) -0.239 0.047 Male 0.185 0.442 Prenatal substance use -0.574 ** 0.139 0.224 0.535
Physical punishment -0.959 *** -1.792 *** 0.189 0.453
Failure to monitor scale -1.012 *** 0.791 0.191 0.459
Age*Unintended pregnancy ——
Intercept -1.703 * 70.261 *** F 12.95 *** 10.48 *** R² 0.080 0.067 Adjusted R² 0.074 0.060
Note: Bold numbers are the standard errors; N = 2,680. *p<.05 **p<.01 ***p.001