Adolescent Mothers

2003 - 2014

​

My research on adolescent mothers oriented me to the contextualistic worldview, which highlights that individuals’ contexts need to be considered to fully understand differences in how, why, and for whom certain developmental outcomes are achieved. This fundamental perspective in developmental sciences acknowledges the complex, interacting and interconnected factors that can influence development at multiple levels.

Multiple publications including a book entitled “Teen pregnancy and parenting: Rethinking the myths and misperceptions, utilized a longitudinal study of adolescent mothers, the Notre Dame Adolescent Parenting Project (NDAPP), which was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), that followed participants from pregnancy until their children were 18 years.

Consistent with my focus on community-based, policy-oriented, prevention science, our book proposed that prevention of adolescent pregnancy is ideal but not always realistic, and that societal bias can exacerbate the challenges facing adolescent parents and increase the likelihood of poor outcomes for them and their children.

​

TIE Lab Alums Who Assisted with this Research

Jacob Gandy, Lauren James, Christina Beasley (Rentz), Dylan Cummings, Holli Causey, Christy Johnson, and Kristie Keene (Halstead)

​

Weed, K., Nicholson, J. S, & Farris, J. R. (2014).

Teen pregnancy and parenting: Rethinking the myths and misperceptions. Taylor & Francis Group

 

Nicholson, J. S., Deboeck, P., Farris, J. R., Boker, S. M., & Borkowski, J. G. (2011).

Maternal depressive symptomatology and child behavior: Transactional relationship with simultaneous bidirectional coupling. Developmental Psychology, 47(5), 1312-1323. doi. 10.1037/a0023912

​

Burke-Lefever, J. E., Nicholson, J. S., & Noria, C. W. (2007).

Children’s uncertain futures: Problems in school. In J. G. Borkowski, J. R. Farris, T. L. Whitman, S. S. Carothers, K. Weed, & D. A. Keogh (Eds.), Risk and resilience: Adolescent mothers and their children grow up (pp. 69 – 99). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

​

Nicholson, J. S. & Farris, J. R. (2007).

Children’s uncertain futures: Socioemotional delays and psychopathologies. In J. G. Borkowski, J. R. Farris, T. L. Whitman, S. S. Carothers, K. Weed, & D. A. Keogh (Eds.), Risk and resilience: Adolescent mothers and their children grow up (pp. 101 – 123). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum