March 30, 2006

I am trying to figure out two of the findings. First, the peer group membership finding. Most of the adolescents say that they are not members of a specific peer group. They describe themselves as floaters. They have friends, just not a specific group. One possible explanation is that kids form low income families tend to have more distance in their familial relationships. I think this is evident in the family stress model. Because of these distant relationships, it is necessary to have more friends in order to create a family. This is seen in gang membership, mostly comprised of low income adolescents who are looking for a family.

The other finding I am trying to figure out is the delaying marriage and family until after a career. From Lisa Dodson’s book it is pretty clear that many of these girls do not see a life beyond high school and therefore do not see having a child as being a potential barrier to their success. Teen pregnancy is also related to low achievement in school and many of the kids are high achievers. What also startled me was that two girls said that an unplanned pregnancy could be a barrier that could prevent them from achieving their goals. They said it as though it was as out of their control as being hit by a car. I think this ties in with the external locus of control that is more common in low income populations. They do not think they have any control over getting pregnant, that it is something that will happen to them.