Adolescent Mothers: Intention to Continue in High School
By Jeanette Koshar RN, NP, PhD and 101 amazing young mothers
Problem
Beyond the demographics we aren’t really clear about why adolescent mothers stay in school or drop out after they have their babies
Demographics: Age, ethnicity, poor GPA, previous school problems, low SES
Significance
Over 400,000 babies are born to adolescent mothers each year in the US
56% of adolescent mothers with one child are able to graduate from high school
Dropping out of school impacts the health of mother/child, < employment opportunities, < wages over their lifetimes
Purpose of Literature review??
Purpose of Literature Review
Do we know why pregnant teens stay in school or drop out?
Is there a theory that might help us “predict” if they will stay in school?
Does staying in school have a positive effect for the teen mother and her child?
Purpose
To identify factors which influence her decision to continue in high school after the birth of her child
Understand the determinants of their intentions to continue in school
PICO
P: Adolescent mothers in special public teen parent HS programs
I: Higher Intention to stay in school C: Lower intention to stay in school O: Postpartum school attendance
PICO (etiology)
Are pregnant teens (P) who intend to continue in school (I) more likely to attend school PP (O) compared with pregnant teens (P) who have less intention of continuing in school (C)?
How was study conducted?
IRB approval/informed consent Pregnant teens in teen mother HS
programs filled out questionnaires within 6 weeks of expected birth
Measured # of days they were in school postpartum
What kind of quantitative study is this?
Is there an intervention? Is there a control group? Is this study longitudinal? So… what kind of study??
Methodology
Is there an intervention? No! Is there a control group? No! Is this study longitudinal? Yes! So… what kind of study??
Prospective cohort study
Study Variables
Are pregnant teens who intend to continue in school more likely to attend school PP compared with pregnant teens who have less intention of continuing in school?
Independent variables: ? Dependent variables: ? Are they truly IVs and DVs: ? What makes us think there is any
connection between the IVs and DVs?
Theory of Planned Behavior
Developmental Theories
Cognitive (Piaget and Elkind): future orientation & egocentrism
Psychosocial (Erikson): Identity formation
How does cognitive & psychosocial development influence decision making?
Assumptions being made???
Assumptions
Why would there be a connection between the IVs and the DVs?
Do people do what they think they will do?
Why do I care? What does the theory
tell you about the researcher?
Participants: Why do we care?
•Pregnant teens in special teen programs•Demographics: age, ethnicity, grade in school, previous GPA, school/grade lag. Couldn’t get SES
Criteria to be in the study
o Informed consent: At 6/7 sites the got school credito What kind of sample is this?o Inclusion criteria??o Exclusion criteria??
Why does it matter who is in and who is out?
oInclusion: can read English, currently in a program, in 10th-12th grades, ages 15-18, no other kids, plans to keep infanto Exclusion: twins, no PN care, not in school now, will graduate before birth
Effect Size and Power Analysis
Do you think there is a strong connection between attitude, social norms, perceived control , intention and if a student returns to school?
How many variables are in the study and how many questions in the questionnaire?
How many participants do I need?
Max-Min-Con Principle: Does the DV change because of the IV?
o Maximize the experimental varianceo Minimize the error varianceo Control the extraneous variance.
How will I know if the TPB concepts predict going to school?
How will I know if the TPB concepts predict going to school?
Stay tuned for next week when we do stats!