Study Challenges Public Notions of Promiscuity and Teen Motherhood

Lisa Dodson, an expert on young girls in poverty and a fellow at the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute, has released the results of a new study on low-income teenage girls, sexuality, and pregnancy. The study -- which surveyed 250 girls from racially mixed, low-income families and convened five in-depth focus groups of low-income girls to discuss survey results -- takes issue with public notions of promiscuity, teenage motherhood, welfare reform, and abortion.

"Contrary to popular myth, these girls are neither dysfunctional nor irresponsible, nor do any of them equate a child with the welfare check," Dodson said. "Above all, they challenge us to give them a chance at the kind of life all our daughters should have."

Among the key findings of the report, "We Could Be Your Daughters":

* Many girls regarded their childhood as too brief and felt they faced early "sexualization."

* Most girls considered abortion personally unacceptable.

* Most girls believed that early motherhood was much more likely in an environment where girls see few opportunities for advancement.

* Most girls saw their relationships with their mothers as having a profound influence on their safety and survival.

* None of the girls mentioned welfare as an incentive for having a child.

"In this election year, "We Could Be Your Daughters" allows us to go beyond rhetoric and listen to the voices of the young women who are often at the center of heated debates," said Paula M. Rayman, director of the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute. "Lisa Dodson's report makes a significant contribution to educating the public and politicians about the lives of low-income girls and their choices in relationships, childbearing, and sexuality."

In addition to being a 1995-96 fellow at the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute, Dodson is co-chair of the Institute's Low-Income Working Circle. She was the principal investigator of the Girls Project and is the senior researcher at the Tobin School Family Support Program, a program serving families in Roxbury. Prior to her current positions, Dodson was director for seven years of the Division of Women's Health at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Her areas of study include participatory research of low-income women and girls and their perspectives on the effects of public policy on women and children in low-income America.