Teenage Moms Become 'Twenty-Something:' Paths to Self-Sufficiency

The stability of resilience of 144 adolescent mothers from pregnancy through 10 years after first becoming a mother was examined. There was considerable instability in resilience during the transition to adulthood: Only 38% of mothers maintained the same resiliency status across time. Three prenatal constructs – cognitive resources, school involvement and success, and adjustment – were used to predict resilience and evaluate its mediational role in maternal outcomes. Each of three predictor constructs were related to maternal adjustment, socioeconomic status and child abuse potential. Additionally, resilience at 5 years mediated the relationships between prenatal characteristics and subsequent outcomes, suggesting that early success in educational attainment, employment, and socioemotional adjustment is the path through which important prenatal characteristics influence 10 year life outcomes.