Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

Teenage pregnancy and motherhood: How might evolutionary theory inform policy?

Johns, Sarah E., Dickins, Thomas E., Clegg, Helen T. (2011) Teenage pregnancy and motherhood: How might evolutionary theory inform policy? Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 9 (1). pp. 3-19. ISSN 1789-2082 (Print) 2060-5587 (Online). (doi:10.1556/JEP.9.2011.37.1) (KAR id:29941)

Abstract

Teenage pregnancy and motherhood are considered to be pressing social concerns and, in the majority of developed countries, are often viewed as problems in need of solutions. While a number of factors are associated with teenage motherhood, the underlying causes remain elusive. Despite a lack of consensus, policy aimed at ‘solving’ teenage motherhood is typically based on these proposed proximate correlates; addressing these, rather than the cause. Recent appraisals of this approach suggest that it may not be working effectively, if at all, and policy makers might be in need of some novel approaches. This paper discusses how policy decisions concerning reproductive timing may benefit from the perspective provided by evolutionary life-history theory, and why policy ought to take into account the hypothesis that teenage motherhood is the outcome of an adaptive response of an evolved reproductive strategy to conditions of risk and uncertainty; that having children at an earlier age may promote lineage survival when personal future is uncertain.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1556/JEP.9.2011.37.1
Uncontrolled keywords: teenage pregnancy, reproduction, life-history theory, evolutionary biology
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: Sarah Johns
Date Deposited: 25 Jul 2012 10:07 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:07 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/29941 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.