Lower educational attainment of mother was significantly linked with participants#x2019; greater risk of becoming sexually active at age 16 or younger. In addition, children born to teenage mothers were also at heightened risk of becoming sexually active at age 16 or younger than those whose mothers were 20 or older at the time of their birth. These variables are likely to be confounded with the socioeconomic status and social position of the family. As well, our findings were consistent with previous studies that document an increased risk for early sexual activity among children of adolescent parents (Nord, Moore, Morrison, Brown, & Myers, 1992). In fact, researchers estimate that at least one-third of parenting adolescents were themselves born to adolescent parents, thereby perpetuating the risk for such consequences as low birth weight and prematurity, poverty, growing up without a father, and poor school performance (Klein, 2005).
