LAUSR

This study describes the personal characteristics and child rearing attitudes of unmarried, Hispanic teenage mothers and compares their risk for negative parenting attributes associated with child maltreatment. Data were analyzed from 111 participants enrolled in an in-home case management initiative. The Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory-2 (AAPI-2) was used to assess parenting-related risk on five constructs. Responses for each construct were converted to standardized ‘sten’ scores ranging from 1 to 10. Paired t-tests were utilized to examine mean differences between AAPI-2 construct sten scores, and Pearson’s r correlation coefficients were calculated to examine the strength and direction of construct relationships. Most AAPI-2 constructs were positively inter-correlated. Participants reported highest risk scores for Use of Corporal Punishment, Inappropriate Expectations of Children, and Oppressing Children’s Power and Independence. Findings indicate the need for parenting education programs to offset child maltreatment risk among Hispanic teenage mothers.