ABSTRACT
The apparent connections between teenage childbearing and poverty make adolescent sexuality a seemingly logical focus for antipoverty strategies. Numerous studies have shown that early childbearing is associated with poor health outcomes for the young mothers and their infants, diminished educational and employment status, marital instability, and increased likelihood of public welfare utilization (Card and Wise 1978; Menken 1980; Moore and Burt 1982; Mott and Marsiglio 1985). One estimate placed the 1985 public welfare costs (i.e., AFDC, Medicaid, and food stamps) attributable to adolescent childbearing at $16.6 billion (Burt 1986).
