Teenage pregnancy: a psychopathological risk for mothers and babies?

INTRODUCTION Teen pregnancy remains a public health problem of varying importance in developing and developed countries. There are risks and consequences for teen parents and the child on the medical and socioeconomic level. METHOD We conducted a literature search on multiple databases, focusing on the risk and the consequences of teen pregnancy and childbearing. We used different combined keywords as teen pregnancy, teen mother, teenage parents, teenage childbearing, teenage mother depression. Our search included different type of journals to have access on different views (medical, psychological, epidemiologic). RESULTS The teen mothers are more at risk for postnatal depression, school dropout and bad socioeconomic status. The babies and children are more at risk for prematurity and low birthweight and later for developmental delays and behavior disorders. CONCLUSIONS Pregnancy in adolescence should be supported in an interdisciplinary way (gynecologist, psychologist, child psychiatrist, midwives, pediatrician). We need further studies that allow targeting patients most at risk and personalizing maximum support.