Parental Nurturance and the Mental Health and Parenting of Urban African American Adolescent Mothers

This study examined the relationship between a teen mother's perceptions of nurturance from her mother and father and her mental health and parenting attitudes. One-hundred and thirty-eight urban, primarily African American adolescent mothers were interviewed. Multivariate results indicate that teen mothers who felt nurtured by their mothers had greater empathy toward their own children, and those who felt nurtured by their fathers reported greater parenting satisfaction. These findings support the importance of interventions that include supporting nurturing parenting of adolescent mothers by their mothers and their fathers.