The role of peer relations in childhood
and behavioral and family characteristics in early adolescence as risk factors for adolescent
childbearing was investigated. Sociometric surveys across third, fourth, and fifth grade and
parent and child measures of behavioral and family functioning at sixth and eighth grade were
collected in a lower income, urban sample of 308 African American females. Results replicated
earlier findings on the role of childhood aggression as a predictor of teen motherhood. In
addition, girls who displayed stable patterns of childhood aggression were at significantly higher
risk not only to have children as teenagers but to have more children and to have children at
younger ages. Results also indicated that females who were depressed in midadolescence were at
greater risk to become parents between age 15 and 19 years. These findings demonstrate the need
to take a differentiated approach to understanding teen childbearing and varying developmental
pathways in the prediction of teen motherhood.