ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the psychosocial consequences of becoming a parent across the adolescent decade within contemporary society. It also focuses on issues of timing of the advent of parenthood within the course of life, the sequence of the transition to parenthood in terms of other expectable adult role changes, and the interplay of social timing, sequence, and motivational factors in the experience of this transition, particularly among young women of color living within circumstances characterized by economic privation and social disorganization. Parenthood is perhaps the most central and complex of adult social roles in contemporary society. Essential for continuation of social life, this role is also significant for definition of self and place in the context of generations and the larger society. The realization of social roles is critically intertwined with timing. Across cultures, the course of life, indeed the very concept of time itself, is markedly variable.
