Young parenthood:: adolescent mothers and their children

Adolescent mothers and their infants are a high-risk group. They are exposed to multiple stress and experience little social support. The accumulation and the interaction of multiple risk factors have an adverse effect on both the psychological well-being of the adolescent mothers and the socioemotional development of the children. In addition, increased depressive symptoms observed in adolescent mothers suggest a gender-specific interpretation. A preventive intervention tudy illustrates the specific situation of adolescent mothers and their infants. The intervention is relationship based, focuses on video feedback, and promotes sensitive parental behavior the results reveal that the relationsh-based, intervention improved maternal sensitivity during the babies' first 3 months compared to a group of adolescent mothers who received intervention based on counseling and compared to a group of adolescent mothers without intervention. Implications for the application of early and secondary preventive interventions in child welfare services are discussed.