Abstract
School-age parenthood is considered a high-risk factor for the development of the teenager’s offspring as well as for her own socioeconomic condition. The effects of teenager parenthood may vary, however, as a function of cultural variation in child-rearing attitudes, variable family support systems, and whether or not the teenage mother is the primary caregiver of the child. The importance of these variables has recently been highlighted by a series of cross-cultural studies in which infant development was notably different across different cultures possibly because patterns of relating to the infant vary across cultural groups (Field et al., 1981). It is conceivable that some infants reared by school-age mothers in some ethnic groups and family constellations may be at lesser risk for developmental delays.