Parenting or Placing: Decision Making by Pregnant Teens

This research studies decision making for resolution of an unplanned pregnancy as a dynamic process and examines predictors of both the initial plan and the consistency of the adoption plan. Among 162 pregnant adolescents in a maternity residence, 57% entered the program planning adoption for their baby. Nearly half of them changed that plan by discharge and decided to parent. Social influence variables were predictive for both the original plan and consistency. Mother's preference was the strongest predictor of initial plan, and birthfather's preference was the strongest for consistency. Sociodemographic and social psychology variables were not predictive.