Teen Moms At Increased Risk Of Health Problems

Younger pregnant mothers may face a higher risk of health problems in their 40s, according to a recent study.

For women who give birth before 24, researchers at Ohio State University found that these mothers were more likely to deal with health problems than older counterparts who had children after.

"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."

During the study, researchers analyzed records from more than 3,000 women in the United States. The women in the records were monitored for the research between the years of 1979 and 2008, according to WebMD.

Researchers assessed their health when they reached the age of 40 and the data were reviewed by all of the researchers. All women in the study included women between 15 and 35 when they had their first baby.

The study authors also disproved another widely held assumption that unmarried women who had children were healthier if they eventually got married. For instance, the study findings revealed that single black mothers who later married showed worse health by 40 than those who stayed single. 

Researchers don't know why this is the case. However, their findings suggest that there may be 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.

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