Predictors of high risk teenage pregnancies

To identify variables that predict birthweight among teenagers participating in a prenatal program? data were analyzed from 25,945 women, including 5,270 teenagers. Of black teenagers in the program* 8 to 17%. had low birthweight births, compared to 8 to 10'/. of the white teenagers. The percentages were significantly different only at age 15. Whereas black teenage mothers more often were unmarried, had previous abortions, and used public prenatal care providers, white teenage mothers more often smoked and were employed. Birthweight was regressed on a number of variables selected from the medical histories of the pregnant women. To obtain a risk score, the standardized regression coefficients were used to calculate weights that could be summed for each woman. Women who scored 10 or more were considered at risk. Risk weights for teenagers and for young adult women (ages 20 and 21) were calculated and compared with the risk weights for women of all ages who were in the prenatal program