Pregnancy status, self-esteem, and ethnicity: some relationships in a sample of adolescents

Studies indicate that pregnant teenagers have lower self-esteem than their non-pregnant peers. A study was designed to assess this and to see whether ethnicity had any impact on the psyches of teen mothers. A group of 100 pregnant/parenting and not-pregnant Anglo- and African American teens was used. Results indicated an association between self-esteem and pregnancy between for Anglos which was absent for African Americans. Anglo teenagers who had never been pregnant had higher self-esteem than pregnant teens of the same race.