Objetive:

To evaluate the association between adolescent pregnancy and language development, in children living in socio-economic vulnerable areas of Mexico.

Materials and methods:

We estimated the standardized language score of children age 12-59 months who participated in the Ensanut 100k. Teenage mothers (TM) were those who at delivery was between 12-19 years old. The association was estimated using multivariate linear regression; moreover, we evaluated an interaction between type of mother and place of residence.

Results:

Children of TM who lived in urban areas had lower standardized language score than those children of adult mothers (ß= -0.33 95%CI: -0.65 a -0.01; p for interaction<0.01). However, book availability and/or mother’s support for learning significantly reduce this difference.

Conclusions:

Sociocultural pressures towards TM in urban areas could explain the results; nevertheless, this population could be susceptible to strategies aimed to improve the mother-child relationship and support for learning.

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