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| Economic Factors |
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| Concoran's (1998) review of literature on adolescent pregnancy and parenting outcomes suggests that many of the undesirable consequences of adolescent pregnancy were indirectly related. For example their disadvantaged socio-economic status could be correlated with education, the number of children and family structure. According to Corcoran (1998) economic status and stability are influenced by academic achievement, nature of employment, and marital status.
Corcoran (1998) refers to compelling evidence which shows a strong association between adolescent pregnancy and low academic achievement (Furstenburg, Brooks - Gumm and Morgan 1987; Maynard 1996), and statistics from U.S. Vital Statistics and U.S. Bureau of the Census. Findings by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and NSW Department of Health, also show that low academic achievement is a key risk factor associated with adolescent parenting (Milne - Home 1996, cited in Lindsay et al, 1999, p32).
Corcoran (1998) also implies prevention of adolescent pregnancy would reduce the number of single parent families in U.S.A from 33% to 21%. Service delivery recommendations were for more comprehensive programs, which included health, educational, vocational, counselling services and life skills training for positive parenting outcomes. These programs according to Corcoran (1998), were more likely to produce long-term benefits for families and society.
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