Paeds · adolescent-and-young-adult-medicine
Adolescent pregnancy and parenting
Also known as Teenage pregnancy · Adolescent parent · Young parent care · Pregnancy in adolescence · Rapid repeat pregnancy · Teen mother and teen father · Adolescent reproductive health in pregnancy
A fellowship approach to adolescent pregnancy and parenting: non-judgemental confirmation and dating, safeguarding-aware options counselling, coordinated antenatal care, adolescent-specific obstetric and psychosocial risk recognition, mental health, nutrition, breastfeeding and education support, postpartum contraception to prevent rapid repeat pregnancy, and longitudinal parenting support across ANZ, UK, US and Canada.
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Target exams
Red flags
- Ectopic pregnancy: abdominal pain with vaginal bleeding or haemodynamic compromise
- Severe pre-eclampsia, eclampsia or HELLP in a pregnant adolescent
- Sepsis, septic miscarriage or suspected unsafe-abortion complication
- Active suicidal plan, intent or postpartum psychosis
- Disclosure of intimate partner violence, reproductive coercion or sexual assault
- Pregnancy involving a child below the local age of consent, a coercive older partner, or trafficking concern
- Late or unbooked presentation with no antenatal care and emerging obstetric complication
Life stages
Care settings
Clinical exam formats
Board mappings
- General and Adolescent Paediatrics
- Adolescent sexual and reproductive health
- Current 2026 PREP curriculum — Learning Objective 1.2.1: Communicate with a child or young person in a way which is appropriate to the position of that child within their own culture
- Current 2026 PREP curriculum — Learning Objective 1.2.2: Communicate with parents or carers
- Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 5: Clinical assessment – essential general paediatrics
- Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 6: Clinical management – essential general paediatrics
- Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 12: Communication with patients, families, and health professionals
- Renewed curriculum for first-year trainees from 2027 — Learning goal 15: Essential general paediatrics
- Clinical Applications
- Adolescent medicine and sexual health
- Long Cases
- Short Cases
- Communication stations
- 4. Professional skills and knowledge: Patient management
- 5. Health promotion and illness prevention
- 8. Child safeguarding
- 11. Adolescent health
- General Paediatrics: Provides developmentally appropriate, safeguarding-aware care for pregnant adolescents and adolescent parents, coordinating reproductive, mental-health and parenting support within legal frameworks
- Foundation of Practice (FOP)
- Applied Knowledge in Practice (AKP)
- Adolescent health, safeguarding and reproductive medicine
- History
- Communication
- Clinical
- Child development
- General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 1: Preventive Pediatrics/Well-Child Care
- General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 11: Adolescent Medicine and Gynecology
- General Pediatrics Content Outline — Domain 16: Mental and Behavioral Health
- General Pediatrics EPA 3: Providing well-child and adolescent care including preventive care and anticipatory guidance
- General Pediatrics EPA 11: Promoting equitable care at the level of each individual patient and the population
- Patient Care 1: History and Physical Examination
- Patient Care 5: Patient Management
- Interpersonal and Communication Skills 1: Patient- and Family-Centered Communication
- Systems-Based Practice 3: System Navigation for Patient Centered Care – Coordination of Care
- Professionalism 1: Professional Behavior and Ethical Principles
- Professionalism 2: Accountability and Conscientiousness
- Communicator
- Collaborator
- Health Advocate
- Professional
- Pediatrics: Foundations EPA — Assessing and providing care for adolescents
- Pediatrics: Core EPA — Providing preventive care and anticipatory guidance
Overview & Definition
A 16-year-old presents with six weeks of amenorrhoea and nausea. She has not told her mother. The temptation is to treat this as a discrete "problem to solve" — confirm, refer, discharge. But adolescent pregnancy is a developmental crossroads: the young person is still completing their own growth, education and identity formation while becoming a parent, and the choices made in the next few months shape two trajectories for decades. The clinician who sees only a positive test misses the patient. [2] [10]
Adolescent pregnancy is pregnancy in a young person, conventionally 10–19 years, though many services extend the frame into the early twenties (young parent). It is not a single entity. A planned, wanted pregnancy in a supported 18-year-old is a different clinical and ethical task from a concealed pregnancy in a 13-year-old with an older partner. The clinician's job is to classify which adolescent pregnancy is in front of them — by intent, gestation, risk and context — and tailor care accordingly, while holding the same non-judgemental, safeguarding-aware stance throughout. [2] [1]
The evidence is unambiguous on two points. First, biological immaturity and psychosocial stress raise the obstetric and mental-health risks of pregnancy in adolescents, particularly in the youngest and least-supported. Second, outcomes improve dramatically with early, supportive, coordinated care — and the single most powerful preventer of repeat adversity is effective postpartum contraception. The framing matters: adolescent parents who are supported can parent well, and a deficit-only stance causes harm. [3] [12] [4]
Core arc of adolescent pregnancy and parenting care
- 1
Confirm & date
Urine β-hCG, serum β-hCG if unclear, dating ultrasound; exclude ectopic.
- 2
Engage alone
Time alone, confidentiality with lawful limits, non-judgemental stance, capacity and who-to-involve.
- 3
Options & safeguarding
Parenting, adoption, termination where legal — non-directive; safeguarding review for coercion/age gap.
- 4
Antenatal MDT
Midwifery + obstetrics + paeds + social work + mental health; screening, nutrition, education.
- 5
Birth, postpartum & prevent repeat
Breastfeeding, mood, attachment; contraception planned before discharge.
References12ShowHide
- [1]Sedgh G; Finer LB Adolescent pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates across countries: levels and recent trends. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2015.PMID 25620306
- [2]Leftwich HK; Alves MV Adolescent Pregnancy. Pediatric clinics of North America, 2017.PMID 28292453
- [3]Ganchimeg T; Ota E Pregnancy and childbirth outcomes among adolescent mothers: a World Health Organization multicountry study. BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, 2014.PMID 24641534
- [4]Curtis KM; Peipert JF Long-Acting Reversible Contraception. The New England journal of medicine, 2017.PMID 28146650
- [5]Rosenthal MA; McQuillan SK Adolescent contraception. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2021.PMID 34373270
- [6]Rigsby DC; Macones GA Risk factors for rapid repeat pregnancy among adolescent mothers: a review of the literature. Journal of pediatric and adolescent gynecology, 1998.PMID 9704301
- [7]Ramage K; Tough S Trends in Adolescent Rapid Repeat Pregnancy in Canada. Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology Canada : JOGC = Journal d'obstetrique et gynecologie du Canada : JOGC, 2021.PMID 33309019
- [8]Sipsma HL; Jones KL Breastfeeding among adolescent mothers: a systematic review of interventions from high-income countries. Journal of human lactation : official journal of International Lactation Consultant Association, 2015.PMID 25480018
- [9]Dinwiddie KJ; Schillerstrom TL Postpartum depression in adolescent mothers. Journal of psychosomatic obstetrics and gynaecology, 2018.PMID 28574297
- [10]Mann L; Bateson D Teenage pregnancy. Australian journal of general practice, 2020.PMID 32464731
- [11]Borovac-Pinheiro A; Surita FG Adolescent Contraception Before and After Pregnancy-Choices and Challenges for the Future. Revista brasileira de ginecologia e obstetricia : revista da Federacao Brasileira de Sociedades de Ginecologia e Obstetricia, 2016.PMID 27832675
- [12]Scholl TO; Hediger ML Prenatal care and maternal health during adolescent pregnancy: a review and meta-analysis. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 1994.PMID 7811676