Pregnancy and Childbearing Among Young Adults Who Experienced out-of-Home Care

Background: Children in foster care are at elevated risk for teen pregnancy and childbirth. Estimates suggest that 50% of female youth emancipating from foster care experience a pregnancy before the age of 20 (Courtney & Dworsky, 2010). A study in California found that 35% of females who were in foster care at age 17 gave birth before age 21 (Putnam-Hornstein & King, 2014). While several regional studies provide prevalence estimates on teen pregnancy among youth emancipating from foster care, few studies have examined correlates of pregnancy and parenting among young adults with a history of foster care. Furthermore, fewer studies have examined pregnancy involvement for men in this group.

Methods: A representative sample of children in out-of-home care who were enrolled in the Fostering Healthy Futures study between the ages of 9-11, were re-interviewed as young adults. The cross-sectional data reported in this study came from a 5^th wave of interviews with 94 participants aged 18-22. About half (55.3%) identified as female, 53.2% identified as Latino/Hispanic, 47.9% as White, 34.0% as Black, and 29.8% as American Indian. We first examined participants’ number of pregnancies (or pregnancy involvement for males), age pregnancy was first experienced, and the results of pregnancies. We then conducted chi-square tests to examine differences between participants with children and those without children on self-reported educational attainment, employment, social support, and financial security.

Results: Of the 52 young women, 50.0% experienced one or more pregnancies before the age of 20. This increased to 61.5% when including young women under age 21. Of the 42 young men, 23.8% reported pregnancy involvement before age 20, which rose to 35.7% before age 21. In sum, 47 young adults experienced/were involved in 67 total pregnancies; 30% of these pregnancies were to participants who had more than one. Of the 67 pregnancies, 56.7% resulted in live birth, 13.4% in miscarriage, 13.4% in abortion, and 16.7% were still pregnant at the time of the interview. The mean age of first pregnancy was 17.72 years (SD=2.21). Of the 47 young adults who became pregnant/involved in a pregnancy, 63.8% became parents (19 young women and 11 young men). Compared to young adults without children, young adults with a child were less likely to have a high school diploma or equivalent (43.3% vs. 71.9%, p<.01), current employment (56.7% vs. 84.4%, p<.01), and a checking (33.3% vs. 59.4%, p=.03), or savings account, (23.3% vs. 51.6%, p=.01). No significant differences were found on social support measures.

Conclusions: Results suggest that early pregnancy is a common experience for both young men and women with histories of out-of-home care. Additionally, becoming a parent is related to poorer educational, employment, and financial outcomes, when compared to peers with similar histories of out-of-home care. Sexual and reproductive health is essential to ensuring positive youth development. These results suggest that pregnancy prevention needs to start early for both boys and girls in out-of-home care as they may be more vulnerable to adverse outcomes in young adulthood if they begin parenting at a young age.