ABSTRACT
As adolescent sexual activity increases and marriage grows less likely for young parents, moral outcries against welfare dependency, sexual promiscuity, and out-of-wedlock births focus on teenagers. Concerns about the morality of youth as a separate group grew between 1960 and 1970 as adolescents increased in both number and visibility. As hippies, political protesters, and social activists, youth became a rebellious social force in need of control. As the number of babies born to adolescent mothers was inflated by births to teenage baby boomers, the perception of adolescent parenting as a problem grew. Many believe that asking teens questions about their sexual activity may suggest approval of it, invade their privacy. Nevertheless, detailed surveys of teenage sexual activity continue to be published in newspapers and scholarly journals, increasing the visibility of and concerns about adolescent sexual activity. The outcomes for young mothers at any single point can only be seen as snap-shots of the obstacles and successes in their developmental trajectories.
