Ecological Factors Associated with Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting (Report‪)‬

The central purpose of this research was to discover, using Bronfenbrenner's conceptual framework of an ecological systems model, the combination of factors that successfully predicted pregnancy and parenting status in a convenience sample of 105 teenagers attending pregnancy prevention programs across 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, consisting of the psychological variables of self-esteem, depression, and stress levels experienced and the social psychological variables of alcohol and drug abuse; (2) the mesosystem, consisting of family structure, family functioning, problems with friends, the neighborhood, and the school, as well as enacted social support; and (3) the macrosystem, consisting of household income, parents' occupations, and race. Key words: adolescent pregnancy; ecological systems; pregnancy prevention; teen parenting