We report the results of an event history analysis of rapidly repeated
pregnancies (i.e., within 18 months) among a sample of 170 adolescent
s who had experienced a nonmarital birth. Study participants were scho
ol-aged adolescents (under age 18 at enrollment) from lower-to middle-
income families who were recruited from social and health service agen
cies in an urban area of the Northwest. Just over half the sample were
persons of color. Respondents were interviewed at five points from pr
egnancy through 18 months postpartum. The best fitting model included
two proximate determinants pregnancy, contraceptive use and frequency
of intercourse, as well as a history of school problems, drug use, fig
hting, living with parents, length of relationship with boyfriends, be
st friends experiencing pregnancies, and age at first birth.