Contractor:
Mathematica Policy Research
Project Director:
Anu Rangarajan
ASPE Project Officer:
Brenda Benesch
Contract No:
233-02-0086
Although the rates of teen pregnancy have fallen steadily throughout the past decade, teenage pregnancy and parenthood remain serious problems in the United States. More than 850,000 teenagers become pregnant each year, and more than three-quarters of the resulting births are to unmarried teens. The majority of teenagers who become pregnant come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and early pregnancy and childbirth create additional challenges. These teen parents and their children struggle with difficult circumstances in the short term and throughout their lives. Maternity Group Homes offer an intensive array of services to meet the short- and longer-term needs of pregnant and parenting teens.
This project will design a rigorous evaluation of Maternity Group Homes, a service model that offers an array of on-site social support services for the most at-risk teen families. These programs aim to prevent second pregnancies, help young women move toward self-sufficiency, and improve outcomes for the children of teen mothers. Limited evidence suggests that Maternity Group Homes may be effective in addressing subsequent teen pregnancies, school-related outcomes, self-sufficiency, and childhood immunization rates. However, a rigorous impact evaluation of Maternity Group Homes has never been conducted. The design phase will include the development of an evaluation design, a site selection process, and measures. The final products for the first phase of the project will include a rationale for site selection, as well as a detailed description of the study design and proposed measures.
Publications
- Maternity Group Homes Classification and Literature Review, March 2004, by Lara Hulsey. (ASPE Research Brief)
- The Implementation of Maternity Group Home Programs: Serving Pregnant and Parenting Teens in a Residential Setting, April 2005, by Lara Hulsey, Robert Wood, and Anu Rangarajan.