Papers by Laurie James-Hawkins
Unintended birth and mental health are major public health problems in the United States. To date... more Unintended birth and mental health are major public health problems in the United States. To date, little research has examined the relationship between depressive symptoms and unintended births, and no research has examined this relationship among men. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (N = 14,271) were used to examine the relationship between depressive symptoms among females and males in adolescence and unintended first birth in emerging adulthood. Respondents who reported higher levels of depressive symptoms in adolescence were more likely to report an unintended birth (OR 1.93, p p
2015 Research in Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT), 2015
Journal of midwifery & women's health, 2015
To explore the meaning or meanings of "I just wasn't thinking" as a reason for cont... more To explore the meaning or meanings of "I just wasn't thinking" as a reason for contraceptive risk-taking among women and to illuminate what this phrase actually means when used by women as an explanation for contraceptive risk-taking. Forty-five in-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with sexually active women on a college campus. Interviews were transcribed and coded thematically using NVivo 10. "I just wasn't thinking" has multiple meanings. Major themes in women's explanations of the meaning were: 1) They pushed it to the back of their minds, that they did not think they would get pregnant; 2) they did not think about it due to impairment resulting from alcohol use; 3) they would deal with the possibility of pregnancy later; and 4) they did not think about contraception or pregnancy at all. Most of these responses were based on erroneous risk calculations that led the women to believe they were not likely to experience a pregnancy. Reaso...
Population Research and Policy Review, 2015
Overall, children born to teen parents experience disadvantaged cognitive achievement at school e... more Overall, children born to teen parents experience disadvantaged cognitive achievement at school entry compared to children born to older parents. However, within this population there is variation, with a significant fraction of teen parents' children acquiring adequate preparation for school entry during early childhood. We ask whether the family background of teen parents explains this variation. We use data on children born to teen mothers from three waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (N~700) to study the association of family background with children's standardized reading and mathematics achievement scores at kindergarten entry. When neither maternal grandparent has completed high school, children's scores on standardized assessments of math and reading achievement are one-quarter to one-third of a standard deviation lower compared to families where at least one grandparent finished high school. This association is net of teen mothers' own socioeconomic status in the year prior to children's school entry.
Journal of health and social behavior, 2014
This study integrates two important developments, the concept of health lifestyles (which has foc... more This study integrates two important developments, the concept of health lifestyles (which has focused on adults and adolescents) and the increased attention to early childhood. We introduce the concept of children's health lifestyles, identifying differences from adult health lifestyles and articulating intergenerational transmission and socialization processes shaping children's health lifestyles. Using the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (2001-2007; N ≈ 6,150), latent class analyses identify predominant health lifestyles among U.S. preschoolers. Five distinct empirical patterns representing health lifestyles emerge, two capturing low and medium levels of overall risk across domains and three capturing domain-specific risks. Social background predicts children's health lifestyles, but lower household resources often explain these relationships. Across kindergarten measures of cognition, behavior, and health, preschool health lif...
Qualitative Health Research, 2014
Shifts in family structure have affected age norms about both teenage childbearing and reproducti... more Shifts in family structure have affected age norms about both teenage childbearing and reproductive sterilization, but we lack research examining how childbearing norms are connected across the reproductive life course. Drawing on interviews from 40 low-income women in Colorado, we explored linkages between early childbearing and the desire for early sterilization. Specifically, we examined two narratives women use to negotiate competing norms throughout the reproductive life course. The low-income women in our study characterized their teenage childbearing experiences negatively and justified them using a "young and dumb" narrative. Women also asserted that reversible contraceptives do not work for them, using a "hyper-fertility" narrative to explain both their early childbearing and their desire for early sterilization. Our results illustrate the influence of mainstream social norms about childbearing timing on low-income women's lives and provide evidence of how women use narratives to explain and justify their violation of childbearing norms.
Demography, 2014
This study examines the puzzle of disparities experienced by U.S. teen parents&am... more This study examines the puzzle of disparities experienced by U.S. teen parents' young children, whose health and development increasingly lag behind those of peers while their parents are simultaneously experiencing socioeconomic improvements. Using the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (2001-2007; N ≈ 8,600), we assess four dynamic patterns in socioeconomic resources that might account for these growing developmental and health disparities throughout early childhood and then test them in multilevel growth curve models. Persistently low socioeconomic resources constituted the strongest explanation, given that consistently low income, maternal education, and assets fully or partially account for growth in cognitive, behavioral, and health disparities experienced by teen parents' children from infancy through kindergarten. That is, although teen parents gained socioeconomic resources over time, those resources remained relatively low, and the duration of exposure to limited resources explains observed growing disparities. Results suggest that policy interventions addressing the time dynamics of low socioeconomic resources in a household, in terms of both duration and developmental timing, are promising for reducing disparities experienced by teen parents' children.
Maternal and Child Health Journal, 2014
Unintended birth and mental health are major public health problems in the United States. To date... more Unintended birth and mental health are major public health problems in the United States. To date, little research has examined the relationship between depressive symptoms and unintended births, and no research has examined this relationship among men. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (N = 14,271) were used to examine the relationship between depressive symptoms among females and males in adolescence and unintended first birth in emerging adulthood. Respondents who reported higher levels of depressive symptoms in adolescence were more likely to report an unintended birth (OR 1.93, p < 0.001) compared with respondents who did not have children. They were also more likely to report an unintended birth compared with respondents who had an intended birth (OR 1.28, p < 0.05). The relationship between adolescent depressive symptoms and unintended birth remained significant, controlling for background variables, and it did not differ by gender. Adolescent depressive symptoms are associated with unintended birth in emerging adulthood. Thus, policies designed to treat depressive symptoms in adolescence may be effective in reducing unintended pregnancy among young adults.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2005
In seems there are two dimensions that underlie most judgments of traits, people, groups, and cul... more In seems there are two dimensions that underlie most judgments of traits, people, groups, and cultures. Although the definitions vary, the first makes reference to attributes such as competence, agency, and individualism, and the second to warmth, communality, and collectivism. But the relationship between the two dimensions seems unclear. In trait and person judgment, they are often positively related; in group and cultural stereotypes, they are often negatively related. The authors report 4 studies that examine the dynamic relationship between these two dimensions, experimentally manipulating the location of a target of judgment on one and examining the consequences for the other. In general, the authors' data suggest a negative dynamic relationship between the two, moderated by factors the impact of which they explore.
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Papers by Laurie James-Hawkins