ADOLESCENT CHILDBEARING AS CAREER CHOICE - PERSPECTIVE FROM AN ECOLOGICAL CONTEXT

Adolescent childbearing among lower socioeconomic-status African American girls who are 16 to 21 years of age is a career choice and an alternative, normative life path within African American culture. Career choice is defined here to signify selection of a role through which one implements one's identity and which represents one's life work. This choice is first addressed from the perspective of vocational psychology and is then presented within two models of developmental psychology: the model of female development presented by Chodorow (1978) and Gilligan (1982) and the model of ecological human development by Bronfenbrenner (1977, 1988). These views incorporate a reassessment of the negative consequences of adolescent childbearing. Finally, implications for research and practice are suggested.