Behavioral and emotional functioning in children of adolescent mothers.

This study compared children of mothers in three age groups--15-17, 18-19, and 20-24 years--at the birth of their first child. Outcome measures were ratings of psychological functioning obtained at three time periods from multiple sources. Results, controlling for family structure and maternal education, indicate that children of adolescent mothers were generally not different from children of mothers in their early twenties with respect to behavioral and emotional functioning. Maternal education had a far greater effect on the outcome measures than did maternal age.