FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH PRETERM DELIVERY AMONG PREGNANT ADOLESCENTS

The purpose was to identify characteristics of pregnant adolescents as sociated with preterm delivery. We studied 126 poor, black, 12 through 18-year-old pregnant adolescents and compared the prevalence of poten tially high-risk maternal characteristics and obstetric complications in those who bore preterm and term infants. Of the adolescents, studie d, 12 (9.5%) delivered prematurely. Five maternal characteristic-conce ption within 3 years of menarche, a low body mass index, a past histor y of physical or sexual abuse, a socially deviant father of the baby, and vaginal bleeding during the first 8 weeks of gestation-were associ ated with preterm delivery. A theoretical model is proposed and the th erapeutic implication of the study findings.