Adolescent Pregnancy

This book focuses on the impact of social stigma on adolescents who are at high risk of teen pregnancy. It describes and discusses personal and social factors that predispose them to becoming pregnant and having babies; factors that may subsequently protect or more often, compromise outcomes for both parents and children. The authors, who represent a range of social roles and perspectives, describe the pathways from stigma and its unfounded beliefs about disadvantaged adolescents, to the ways stress burdens teen parents and their children. They note that successful teen parents often go unrecognized and wonder how many more are hobbled by stigma. They recognize the lifespan impacts of stress as described in the ACE studies; stress that has psychological, health and economic implications at individual and social levels. They examine the impact of stigma on parent-child relationships and the attachment system, a stress management system, learned in infancy and persisting into adulthood. The book describes how stigma finds its way into daily interpersonal encounters, systemic policies and practices, and even into healthcare research and services.

This book explores the connection between family structure and circumstances, parental engagement, and adolescent sexual behavior. Given that South Africa contains the highest portion of the global HIV epidemic within a single country, a comprehensive, book-length investigation into—sometimes risky—adolescent sexual behaviour is necessary. Drawing from the longitudinal Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS) of more than 4,000 adolescents between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two, as well as qualitative interviews and focus group discussions with parents and adolescents, this study pioneers empirical investigation of adolescent sexual behavior within the intricate framework of family dynamics in South Africa.

This book offers a comprehensive and clinically relevant survey of adolescent gynecology. Adolescent Gynecology: A Clinical Casebook addresses the many intersecting considerations of gynecologic and reproductive health care for this population using a concise, case-based format.

This book addresses a variety of critical themes that relate to child and adolescent mental health and working memory. It focuses on various theoretical perspectives as well as highlighting implications for practice. The topics contemplated include social media and mental health, parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), the role of e-learning in mental health, perinatal depression and working memory, language, and reading and behaviour.

This book addresses the discrepancy between efforts to prevent adolescent pregnancy and support of adolescent parenthood, which is arguably America's greatest unrecognized public health crisis.