Reading Deficits in Pregnant Teens: Implications for Policy and Practice

The present study examined the relationship between teen pregnancy and reading achievement. Girls ages 14 to 17 who were pregnant at the time of testing (n=3) and girls who had never been pregnant (n=19) were compared on measures of reading achievement. Specifically, the WRAT-4 was used to measure lower-order single word reading and spelling skills, and the TOWRE and the NDRT were used to measure higher-order reading fluency and comprehension. A MANOVA was conducted to investigate whether there was a difference between pregnant and never-pregnant teens in one or more domains of reading achievement. Results did not indicate statistically significant differences between groups. Follow-up ANOVAs were conducted to compare pregnant and never-pregnant teens on measures of higher-order reading skills. No differences between groups were noted in any analysis. Due to small sample size, the power of the analyses was limited. Future research should be conducted with a larger sample.