75: Pregnancy among African American teens:

Article Outline

• Purpose
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusions
• Copyright

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Purpose 

African American fathers are often missing from the conversation on teen pregnancy. We sought to learn more about this perspective.

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Methods 

We conducted focus groups with fathers of African American adolescents. All sessions were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim, Atlas ti/5.0 was used for assistance in data analysis. Through grounded theory methods and content analysis we identified major themes.

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Results 

Fathers were recruited from 3 neighborhood health clinics and surrounding communities on Chicago’s Southside. After 4 sessions (n=27), we achieved saturation. Major themes presented are those which appeared in all sessions and were widely endorsed across sessions. Fueled by peer pressure, hip hop music, dancing and television, teen sex and pregnancy are rampant in their communities. One father works as a disc jockey, “If parents could see the dances that their kids do…on the ground pumping and stuff…I have two little girls if I saw them doing that I would grab them so fast.” Fathers place responsibility for pregnancy on parents who do not supervise or model ideal behaviors, “Momma’s at work—that’s if she ain’t on drugs—and when momma gets home she just wants quiet.” Though others attribute lack of monitoring to the exigencies of providing for a family, “I am not blaming parents because some parents work at night and aren’t around the house.” They point out that they cannot afford childcare. Fathers use a number of techniques to educate children about pregnancy and sexuality. These include: scare tactics, frank conversations and real life examples, “Like I tell my daughter…a nigga don’t want nothing but two thingsyo money and yo ass…I am keeping it real.” Or, “Look at your friend Angie, see how she can’t go hang out with y’all…look at li’l Alisa is on Public Aid she can’t buy Air Force ones (shoes)…that’s gonna be you if you get pregnant.” Participants also express resignation, “There are some acceptable lossesyou can’t save everybody.” Many discussed having young males take responsibility for the children they produce, “That girl’s father needs to find shorty…‘dude you hooked this thing up here…you got a part to play.’” Finally, fathers admit to having high expectations for their children but needing additional resources. They long for the time when neighbors helped discipline each others’ children, “Nowadays young kids will cuss us out like they are grown up.” They feel restricted in disciplining their own children given laws against corporal punishment. Fathers also offer solutions: more education at home and in school, after school programs, having parents lead by example and keeping kids away from gangs. They want their kids to be occupied, motivated and become responsible adults.

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Conclusions 

According to these fathers, music, parties and peers make teens susceptible to pregnancy. They point to a much larger role for parents in supervising, counseling and modeling behaviors. Fathers are aware of teen culture and engage in frank conversations with their children. But lack of personal and community resources limits their ability to steer their children to becoming responsible adults.