ABSTRACT
Most individuals across the globe become parents at some point in their lives (86% of women, 84% of men), primarily after their adolescent years (Bornstein, 2015). In this chapter, we consider the timing of parenthood, and the phenomenon of adolescent parenthood for adolescent parents and their children. The chapter reflects a bioecological approach (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2007) to understanding adolescent parenting, in which we consider the multiple layers of context (individual, relational, sociocultural, policy) that inform adolescent parenting, including its origins, meanings, and consequences. We first examine the prevalence and correlates of adolescent parenthood globally (both developing and developed countries) to address the sociocultural context of adolescent parenthood and parenting. Adolescent birth rates are declining worldwide, yet there are intra- and international disparities in birth rates that may be related to circumstances such as economic and educational opportunities for young women and variability in ethnicity that are relevant to understanding the transition to parenthood during the adolescent years.
