STRUCTURE AND STABILITY OF MATERNAL SUPPORT AMONG PREGNANT AND PARENTING ADOLESCENTS

This study examined the effects of positive support and conflict that pregnant/parenting adolescents received from their mothers. A typology of maternal support and conflict was established using cluster analyt ic procedures from data collected prenatally; prenatal cluster members hip was related to significant differences on three measures of stress . The prenatal cluster solution was replicated at the one-month postna tal period. Postnatal cluster membership was not related to the postna tal outcomes. More than half of the teens had changed clusters from th e prenatal to postnatal period. Changes in cluster membership (indicat ing changes in maternal support), whether in a positive or negative di rection, were related to postnatal outcomes. The implications of these findings for the theoretical literature, preventive interventions, an d public policy are discussed. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.