Ecological factors associated with adolescent pregnancy and parenting

The central purpose of this research was to discover, using Bronfenbrenner' s conceptual framework of an ecological systems model, the combination of f actors that successfully predicted pregnancy and parenting status in a conv enience sample of 105 teenagers attending pregnancy prevention programs acr oss a state in the southwestern United States. Nonpregnant or nonparenting teenagers were compared with pregnant and or parenting teenagers by factors organized by the following three main systems of interacting categories of variables, as explicated by Bronfenbrenner: (1) the microsystem, consistin g of the psychological variables of self-esteem, depression, and stress lev els experienced and the social psychological variables of alcohol and drug abuse; (2) the mesosystem, consisting of family structure, family functioni ng, problems with friends, the neighborhood, and the school, as well as ena cted social support; and (3) the macrosystem, consisting of household incom e, parents' occupations, and race.