This document summarizes a research paper about the effects of adolescent pregnancy on educational attainment. It discusses how adolescent mothers often have lower educational attainment than their non-parenting peers. The author examines previous literature on the topic and policies supporting adolescent mothers. They describe their internship at Hephzibah Children's Home, which provides housing and education support to adolescent mothers in Macon, Georgia. Through this experience and a critical theory framework, the author analyzes how adolescent motherhood impacts educational outcomes.

1. Educational Attainment: Effects of Adolescent Pregnancy on Education
by
Bethany Watson
for
Senior Seminar
Dr. Stephanie McClure
Georgia College and State University
December 5, 2016

2. Table of Contents
ABSTRACT 1
THE PROBLEM 2
SOCIOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 3
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Background of Educational Attainment for Mothers 5
Policies for Adolescent Mothers 6
Social Impacts for Adolescent Mothers 7
Programs for Adolescent Mothers 8
METHODS/INTERNSHIP DESCRPITION 10
RESULTS 13
DISCUSSION 15
REFRENCES 17
APPENDIX 20
FIGURES
Pregnancy Rates in Georgia 22
Population of Macon, Georgia 23
Educational Attainment 24

3. 1
Abstract
Effects of Adolescent Pregnancy on Education
Adolescent motherhood is seen by society as a social problem, one that is not getting
better. This is in fact false. In 2012,the pregnancy rate for adolescent was at an all time
low in twenty years. However, women who become adolescent mothers continue to have
lower educational attainment, than compared to non-child bearing adolescents. Previous
research shows how differing reasons such as social problem that causes educational
issues’, which in turn impacts adolescent mothers’ educational attainment. In this paper, I
examine the background, policies, social implications, and a program available for
adolescent mothers. Using the lens of critical social theory, I will show how this impacts
the adolescent mothers served at Hephzibah Children’s Home in Macon, Georgia, where
I worked as an intern in 2016.

4. 2
THE PROBLEM
In society, people see adolescents who have children as a nuisance to society.
Erdman and Black said, “Ironically, and sadly, when teen mothers are defined “as a
problem, rather than a people with problems”, policies tend to focus on changing
behaviors rather than addressing needs” (Erdman and Black, 2015,3). We see adolescent
mothers as babies having babies. This view of adolescent mothers can impact their
educational outcomes, and in turn, impact their whole lives (Hudgins et al., 2014, Lall,
2007, Manlove1998, Vincent & Thomson, 2013, Vinson & Stevens, 2002). Hephzibah
Children’s Home in Macon, Georgia, is trying to debunk how society views adolescent
motherhood and to address how adolescent motherhood impacts the mothers’ educational
attainment. This is seen at Hephzibah Children’s Home because the biggest population
there is adolescent mothers who are in the second chance program. This gives these
young women a place to come while they are pregnant or after they become mothers and
give them another chance to become productive member of society.
To improve adolescent mothers’ opportunity for a productive future, Hephzibah
Children’s Home has a policy requiring that residents stay in school. One way, this
institution seeks to change the impact on how adolescent mothers are viewed in society is
by giving theme a second chance, such as having someone there to talk with when they
need support (Lieberman, 2015). An example that comes to mind from my time at HCH
is that the mothers came up to the coordinator of the program, to discuss any problems
they were having with their child. In particular, one mother was having trouble getting
her daughter to eat properly and she was not gaining enough weight because of this. After
the conversation she had with the coordinator she felt better about her daughter’s eating

5. 3
habits and was going to try the suggestions that she was given. Without this program she
would not have had this information and support.
The present research was conducted to explain how becoming an adolescent
mother during the time of adolescence can impact educational attainment and, by
extension, the rest of their lives. I did this by looking at past research, about adolescent
motherhood and connecting it to my experiences with the Early Childhood and Parenting
(ECP) program at Hephzibah Children’s Home. The ECP program has strict rules for
these young mothers to continue their education until they move on to another place in
their lives. The lives and experiences of these women are best understood through the
lens of critical theory, which is, “a multidisciplinary approach to achieve a just and
democratic social order (Farganis).” In the next section I will examine the sociological
critical theory and how it reflects on adolescent motherhood impact on educational
attainment.
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY APPLICATION
Critical theorists use multiple disciplines such as psychology, sociology,
economics and politics to try to create a just social order in the world (Farganis, 331).
One of the key theorists in critical theory is Jürgen Habermas. Based on Habermas’s
work, I can explain how educational attainment for adolescent mothers differs from the
attainment of adolescents without children, and how policies have a lasting impact for
adolescent mothers, specifically on their educational attainment. Policies have had an
enormous impact on adolescent mothers, from letting them be able to stay in schools they
were in before getting pregnant to the rules they have to follow in a school setting.
Examples of some of these rules can be seen in the Bibb County School System in their

6. 4
handbook, in the Appendix. These policies have been put into place to create a change
within this group of people so that they can improve their educational attainment
positively. The biggest policy change that has come into effect is the passing of Title IX.
With the passing of Title IX, adolescent mothers have many rights that they might not
know that they have. A few of these rights are that the school must allow the student to
continue being in class and any extracurricular activities; provide the student with
reasonable adjustments, such as elevator access and going to the restroom whenever
needed; allow for excused absences and medical leave; and protect the student from
harassment (Anon).
Policies are an important part of these mothers’ educational attainment as well as
for creating the social change that is important for critical theorists. The theorists under
the critical theoretical framework want not to only understand society, adolescent
motherhood, but to change it, by providing policy changes (Seidman, 115). Critical
theorists want to create human autonomy, which relates to adolescent motherhood
because there needs to be a change in the view of this group of people. Siedman (2011)
explained the need for change in adolescent mothers’ education by saying that social
change has to do with “quality of life, equal rights, individual self realization,
participation and human rights” (Siedman, 126). This leads into legitimation crises and
this is important for adolescent mothers, more specifically how it can change the
outcomes of educational attainment for adolescent mothers by creating policies to help
them.
Legitimation crisis is defined as the shift of social crisis from economic to social
and cultural spheres, where the public disconnects from the government because they

7. 5
view the policies as unjust (Siedman, 124). This is one of the key points of critical theory
and this concept heavily relates to the social change needed for adolescent mothers.
These crises are influenced by motivation crises. These are explained as “a contradiction
between the cultural and economic spheres” (Siedman, 125). The proposal of social
reform for adolescent motherhood’s educational attainment has threatened the social
status quo. Adolescents are not supposed to get pregnant so young and this is what
creates this discontent. However, lately there has been a greater empathy toward this
group that has created social discontent, which has been focused from motivation of
people who want to help this group of people. This greater empathy toward adolescent
mothers has caused second chance homes to come into being. Second chance homes help
adolescent mothers with all the struggles of becoming a mother at a young age. This
increased consciousness about adolescent motherhood’s effect on their educational
attainment supports the formation of other social movements, which creates social reform
for minorities (Farganis, 334). The minorities in this instance are adolescent mothers, and
the reform is the change needed for them to continue their educational attainment through
policy changes.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Background of Adolescent Pregnancy
Adolescent motherhood has long been a controversial topic. How society views
this minority set of people and how this impacts this group of people’s everyday lives has
been studied for many years. Previous research, found that adolescent mothers attain their
education, as indicated by high school completion, one to three years behind their peers
without children (Klepinger1995; Moore and Waite 1977; Moore and Waite, 1978; Kane,

8. 6
2013). The other thing that is important in previous research is the fact that multiple
variables and methods, such as sociodemographic covariates of teen birth and educational
attainment, family structure, parent’s education, household income-to-needs ratio,
race/ethnicity, nativity status, and age statewide abortion laws were used in indicating
whether having a child in adolescent years would impact educational attainment as well
as educational attainment in grades of formal schooling completed at ages 18, 21, and 24
(Moore and Waite, 1978; Kane et al., 2013). These methods were used to prevent
confounding variables from impacting the outcomes. Some previous research did not
provide these many variables, which could have impacted the results of their findings.
The concept of providing multiple variables is known as endogeneity. Kane et al.,
explains how this impacts studies linking adolescent motherhood to schooling by saying
“common unobservable factors are present in the error terms of the regression equations
that predict both teen childbearing and educational attainment” (Kane et al, 2013).
Klepinger et al. explains how this impacts their research by saying, “Recognizing that
teenage fertility is endogenous with respect to educational attainment because it is likely
to be related to the expected costs of and returns from investing in education, we take
such endogeneity into account in our analyses” (Klepinger 1995). The researchers are
taking the variables that could have an impact on an adolescent’s education and taking
them into account in order to make sure the relationship between adolescent motherhood
and schooling outcomes was, not the result of outside variables.
Policies for Adolescent Mothers
Policies are a big topic when discussing adolescent motherhood and educational
attainment. Policies, both school and governmental, determine if these young women can

9. 7
stay in school, which in turn determines their economic situations. However, public
policies are not always beneficial for the adolescent mother and instead put the blame on
their economic and schooling background (Erdmans and Black, 2015; Klepinger, 1995).
The Title IX school policy has made it to where adolescent mothers in public schools can
continue their education (Adler, 1985). As mentioned earlier, Title IX protects adolescent
mothers at school to make sure that they are getting equal treatment compared to the
students who are not mothers. Although, these school policies are designed to keep
adolescent mothers in school, many may end up dropping out because of negative
attitudes about adolescent motherhood. This can be seen in the Bibb County policy
presented in the Appendix. Even though Bibb County School allow adolescent mothers to
stay in there school system they still are placed under the same rules as their non-mother
counterparts (Appendix). MacDonald states “attitudes about adolescent mothers needs to
be changed or else no policy is going to be able to help” (MacDonald, 1987). Another
reason for policy is to be covert in nature; this can create social implications that keep
adolescent mothers in K-12 education (Manlove, 1998; Vinson and Stevens, 2002;
Vincent and Thomson, 2013). These social implications are laid out in the next section.
Social Impacts for Adolescent Mothers
Social problems arise when adolescents become mothers. These social problems
range from how people view adolescent mothers, to problems in the school system with
peers and teachers; the students economic and school backgrounds before they become
young mothers is also an impact (Manlove, 1998; Vinson and Stevens, 2002; Vincent and
Thomson, 2013). These implications impact adolescent mothers’ ability to continue their
education, which will be discussed below.

10. 8
Manlove (1998) explains these social repercussions by examining when or if the
adolescent dropped out of school (Manlove, 1998). This being said “teenagers who have
a school age pregnancy are less likely to be from an intact family, go to the better
schools, and get high scores on achievement tests compared to their non-teenage mothers
counterparts” (Manlove, 1998). Examining dropout rates to try to determine who is more
likely to have a child while in adolescence can be problematic. Drop out status can
determine the likelihood of an adolescent becoming pregnant because the students who
drop out are, as Manlove explains, in many cases not from an intact family and do not go
to the best schools. This leads them to dropping out of school and as Manlove explained
previous research from Kandel was associated with increased risk of premarital
pregnancy in the 1970s (Manlove, 1998). Erdmans and Black explain dropping out of
school as, “a process not a one time event, they left school and came back and left again;
they were held back a grade because of absences, tried to catch up, became discouraged,
and stopped attending; they change schools and tried again in a different state or country”
(Erdmans and Black, 2015, 155). In sum, not only does having a child impacts a persons’
educational attainment but what her life was before she got pregnant such as her
economic and social status, these impact the likelihood of her not completing her full
academic potential.
Programs for Adolescent Mothers
There are also programs that are developed specifically for adolescent mothers.
They are formed to help with the impacts of becoming a mother at such an early age. One
program is the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential, GCAPP, which
helped get over ninety percent of their residents to obtain their high school degree or the

11. 9
equivalent, the GED within two years of starting the program; a third of these graduates
were pursuing a higher degree and twenty-four percent were still in high school or GED
programs (Hudgins, 2014). This is an important finding considering adolescent mothers
often get left behind in school, which discourages them from getting this fundamental
degree. Adolescent mothers’ being left behind in the school system is even more backed
up in Lieberman’s (2015) study, which results in the adolescent mothers achieving higher
parent attitudes such as empathy, expectations, and roles that they have to possess now.
There was also a higher attendance in the Teen Choice program. The Teen Choice
program is “an evidence- informed pregnancy and HIV/STD prevention education
program, facilitated by a trained social worker to develop critical thinking and
communication skills for negotiation, provide comprehensive family life and
reproductive health education, build positive peer support, challenge the stereotypes of
youth culture, and acquire the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to set future
goals” (Lieberman, 2015). The results of this program shows improvements in sense of
personal empowerment, self-efficacy to engage in safer sex practices and parenting
expectations and roles. These participants were interviewed 6 months after this study and
among many important factors for parenthood, 86 percent of the participants were in
school or employed (Lieberman, 2015). Warrick’s (1993) study suggests that there are
two program components that are important for adolescent mothers; strong communities
and case management. Strong communities offer peer support, which is a social
necessity. The other program component is a case plan for the adolescent and her family.
Case management is an important part of coming up with policy because it helps keep the
mother on task (Warrick, 1993).

12. 10
INTERNSHIP DESCRIPTION/ METHODS
In this paper, I investigate how adolescent pregnancy impacts the mothers’
educational attainment by reflecting on my time at Hephzibah Children’s Home and
looking at previous research on the topic. The history of educational attainment for
adolescent mothers is long and controversial. There are, however, programs and policies
in place for adolescent mothers that were once not there and this too could impact
adolescent mothers’ educational attainment. The main policy that is implicated at HCH is
the education policy. This is seen sociologically through the lens of critical theory.
Critical theory is about social change and getting an education even though you had a
child young because of this policy is creating social change.
I completed my internship at Hephzibah Children’s Home (HCH) in Macon,
Georgia. The population of adolescent mothers in Macon Georgia are seen in Figure 1. In
fact, Georgia has the seventeenth highest teen birth rate in the nation and the forty-second
for teens not in school and not high school graduates (Fast Facts). Macon, Georgia has a
population shown in figure 2. 28.2 percent of the populations are living in poverty,
which can impact the educational attainment of the population (U.S. Census). The
educational attainment of people 25 years or older in Macon is seen in Figure 3.
Hephzibah Children’s Home lies on 120 acres of land, where there are multiple houses
for the residents, apartments for staff or visiting volunteers, a farm, and a lake. The
mission of Hephzibah Children’s Home is as follows: “For over a century Hephzibah
Ministries, Inc. has been serving the needs of children and families who are homeless,
orphaned, abused, and neglected. Our passion is driven by Christ’s command to “offer a
cup of cold water” in Jesus’ name and to provide loving, caring, professional, and

13. 11
passionate services to those in need”(about us). HCH is a Christian-based institution,
operated by the Wesleyan Church. Its Christian foundation impacts the way the
institution is run. An example of how being under a Christian foundation is that the
residents who preside at HCH are required to attend a church service somewhere at least
once a week. Along with this, every Monday morning all the staff is encouraged to come
into the administrative office and participate in a devotional given by the Chief Executive
Officer or Chief Operating Officer. Being run by a Christian foundation gives them this
opportunity to explore their faith at work.
I worked specifically with the Early Childhood and Parenting program (ECP),
with adolescent mothers and their children. The ECP program, which consists of a second
chance program, is a program to give adolescent mothers another chance. The purpose of
this program is to help adolescent mothers stay in school while they also learn how to
become mothers to their children, as well as to prepare expecting mothers for these life
changes. This program also helps the adolescent mothers children be on track for
developmental milestones, including crawling, walking, and talking. During my time at
HCH, there were around thirteen mothers and children, and two pregnant mothers. Most
of them were still there after I completed my internship; however, a few of them had left
for other care facilities or departed foster care for good.
In addition to working with the mothers and their children, I also did
administrative work, including putting together developmentally appropriate activities for
the mothers to do with their children thus helping to ensure the children were where they
needed to be developmentally. This type of programming is needed because adolescent
mothers do not always know when or if there is something lacking developmentally with

14. 12
their child. In addition to these tasks, I typed up the daily reports on each child, written
the day before by the ECP house parent, which told what they ate, when they used the
bathroom or got their diaper changed, and anything that happened or needed to be
reported to the administration.
Because I completed my internship in the summer months certain things were
different. There were also changes going on within the organization as a whole, which
caused problems and impacted the way the ECP program ran. One difference was that,
because it was the summer, most mothers were not in school; instead they were with the
child and the houseparent all day. This caused problems between the residents and the
ECP staff. An example of this problem is the constant bickering that the mothers did that
they did not want to be in ECP all day long. This caused tensions between the mothers
and the staff member. Another issue was that the organization as a whole was going
through changes, which caused issues within the organizational staff, which in turn
impacted the residents. For example, because of the changes that were going on, there
was a lot of tension, as the residents and staff were getting used to new things going on
and this caused stress on both sides. The residents sometimes acted out because of these
changes. There was also a problem in staffing during the summer, to the point where
there was no staff for the ECP program. This again caused issues because at one point
during the summer only one mother and child were participating in ECP. This caused the
mother to think that she was in trouble because she was the only one who had to
participate in ECP everyday. During the times there was no ECP staff, I did not interact
with the mothers and children, since I was not allowed to be with the mothers and
children without an ECP staff member with me. Eventually, the staff that was there was

15. 13
rotated between the three houses so each age group was participating in the ECP
program’s activities.
RESULTS
The Early Childhood and Parenting program at Hephzibah Children’s Home has
taken what society has deemed as a social problem and has tried to prove society wrong.
There is a policy that every resident that is living in their care has to be in a school setting
in some way, be it traditional middle/high school, General Educational Degree school, or
even college for the older residents. They are taking educational attainment seriously
with these young mothers so they can become individuals their children can be proud of.
Being able to complete high school or get a GED because of this policy is helping the
stigma of adolescent motherhood and this is the key theme in critical theory.
This is an excerpt from the Hephzibah Children’s Home direct care manual:
“Georgia law requires that children from age 6 to 16 attend school. The education
of the residents of Hephzibah is of the utmost importance. Houseparents, in
partnership with the HSP’s, are to ensure residents are participating in the study
time offered each day and are completing their homework. Houseparents and
HSP’s must also help resident obtain the necessary educational services (such as
tutoring) in order to succeed in school. It should be understood by residents and
expected by staff that all schoolwork will be completed with full diligence.”
All this comes down to say is that even though there is a decline in the total
number of adolescent pregnancies overall, there is not an increase in adolescent mothers
who finish high school and maybe even more importantly to get some sort of higher
education or professional learning (Anon, Fast Facts). Educational attainment suffers one

16. 14
to three years for adolescent mothers compared to their non-childbearing counterparts
(Klepinger1995; Moore and Waite 1977; Moore and Waite, 1978; Kane, 2013). The ECP
program at Hephzibah Children’s Home is trying to accomplish a decline of this impact.
Much like the GCAPP, HCH also consists of a second chance home, where more than
ninety percent of the mothers in the program completed high school or got the GED in
the GCAPP program after 2 years (Hudgins, 2014). That is why having a policy that all
residents who reside at HCH have to be in some sort of educational program is important
for adolescent mothers who reside at HCH. This is to make sure that these young mothers
do not become part of the trend of being adolescent mothers who do not finish their
education. One of the ways, other than the policy that they must be in school, is that
Hephzibah Children’s Home has an education center where the residents can go to work
on their schoolwork as well as get help with anything they need help with any
schoolwork. The educational commitment at Hephzibah Children’s Home can impact
how well their children do and how far their children get in school and help them not be
dependent on welfare when they leave HCH.
DISCUSSION
Previous research shows that adolescents’ educational attainment suffers one to
three years for those who become mothers during this time in their lives (Klepinger1995;
Moore and Waite 1977; Moore and Waite, 1978; Kane, 2013). Based on this and my time
spent at Hephzibah Children’s Home’s program for adolescent mothers, ECP, policy
changes are important. This is to ensure that this gap of education shrinks and becomes
the same with their non-child bearing counterparts. Policy change is best described in the
theoretical framework of critical social theory, which will be discussed below.

17. 15
The sociological theoretical framework explaining adolescent motherhood’s
educational attainment is critical theory. By examining key concepts of critical theory
such as legitimation and motivation crisis, adolescent mothers’ educational attainment
can be discussed by explaining the changes that need to be done policy wise for
adolescent mothers to make getting an education easier for this group of people. During
my time at Hephzibah Children’s Home, the most important policy that is in affect is that
every resident has to be in some type of educational program. These mothers were put
into the care of Hephzibah Children’s Home where educational attainment is one of the
key components for the mothers that reside there. This program is beneficial for these
young women because they are attaining their full educational potential and because they
have someone there who believes in them; they have a support system that they would
not have if they were not residents at HCH (Warrick, 1993).
Policies are essential in determining an adolescent mothers’ educational
attainment. Since Title IX passed in the governmental level, all public and private schools
colleges and universities receiving federal funds are required to keep students in school
no matter what, meaning they cannot kick out pregnant students. However, seen in the
Bibb County School System handbook, adolescent mothers must be under the same set of
rules as all the other students, which can be problematic. These mothers are under the
same scrutiny as other students: however, they have more responsibilities because they
are mothers. This can cause tension between the school system and adolescent mothers,
which can result in the mother not being able or wanting to complete high school. In
conclusion, this means that adolescent mothers do not and cannot achieve their full
educational attainment. This has impacts on them and their children the rest of their lives

18. 16
(Hudgins et al., 2014, Lall, 2007, Manlove1998, Vincent & Thomson, 2013, Vinson &
Stevens, 2002). However, because of the policies that have been made, that can be
viewed through the lens of critical theory, this does not have to happen. There is hope for
these young mothers because of these policies.

19. 17
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Appendix A
Bibb County School Policy
“Upon the request of a pregnant student and the student's husband (parent or guardian, if
the pregnant student is unmarried), a pregnant student shall be permitted to attend school
and to participate in regular school programs until such time that the student's school
attendance and participation in school programs endanger the health and safety of the
student, as determined by the student's physician. Although school officials shall not
exclude a pregnant student from enrollment in school solely because of the student's
pregnancy, school officials shall have the authority and responsibility to take appropriate
disciplinary action against a pregnant student, as well as any other student, for any
actions or misconduct on school grounds which are either disruptive or in violation of
school regulations.
If the pregnant student chooses to remain in school during the semester in which she
expects to deliver the child, her attendance shall be governed by the same attendance
policies, rules, and regulations that govern the attendance of all other students. Although
the pregnant student's school absences may be excused, the student shall be able to earn
course credit only if minimum course requirements and attendance requirements are met,
as determined by the principal through consultation with the student's teachers.
The pregnant student who remains in school during the pregnancy should be under the
direct care of a licensed physician. Also, the pregnant student shall be expected to fulfill
the responsibilities that follow:
1. Notify the school principal or counselor after the pregnancy is confirmed. The
school nurse will be notified and meet with the student as soon as possible.

23. 21
2. Provide the principal with a written statement from the physician. The statement
should include the physician's recommendation concerning school attendance for
the pregnant student and confirmation of the expected date of delivery.
3. Present a statement from her physician that she is able to physically resume
school activities prior to returning to school.
4. Participate in a joint conference with the principal, nurse and the pregnant
student's husband (parent or guardian, if the pregnant student is unmarried). The
required conference shall be held for the purpose of determining the duration of
the student's school attendance before the date of delivery, based upon the
physician's recommendation.
5. Consult monthly with the school counselor.
6. Consult monthly with the school nurse. “ (Bibb County)

24. 22
Figure 1
Source: Teen Pregnancies, Ages 15-17, By. n.d. “Create Your Custom Report.” KIDS
COUNT
2.07%
29.47%
65.47%
Pregnancy Rates in Georgia
Ages 10-14
Ages 15-17
Ages 18-19

25. 23
Figure 2
Source: Anon. n.d. “Bibb County Georgia Quick Facts from the US Census Bureau.”
Retrieved October 24, 2016
54.5
39.4
4.3 2.0
Population of Macon, Georgia 20 Miles
from Downtown
White Only
Black only
Hispanic
Two or more races

26. 24
Figure 3
Source: Anon. n.d. “Bibb County Georgia Quick Facts from the US Census Bureau.”
Retrieved October 24, 2016
4. 4%
9.7%
34.1%
20.8 %
7.5 %
14.5%
9
Educational Attainment 25 Years or
Older
Less than 9th Grade
High School w/o diploma
high school graduates
College w/o degree
Associates degree
Bachelor Degree
Graduate/Professional Degree