Search Here

Teenaged pregnant mothers might be more exposed to health problems when they reach their 40s.

Mothers who get babies before the age of 24 years have to deal with more issues than others, said researchers at Ohio State University."Ours is the first U.S. study to find that having your first child in young adulthood is associated with worse self-assessed health decades later for white and black women, when compared to those who wait until they are over 24."

More than 3,000 U.S. women whose records were documented between 1979 and 2008 were examined, according to WebMD.

Looking at the health of the women when they reached 40, and reviewing the data gave some insights. The women were between 15 and 35 years when they had their first babies.

The study disproved another assumption that unwed mothers were healthier if they finally got married. On the contrary, single black mothers who later married showed worse health by the time they reached 40 years than women who stayed single.

The reason for this is not clear. However, scientists feel that there are "unintended consequences related to public health efforts that encourage single mothers to marry".

The study was published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.