Below is an excerpt from a fictitious literature review. Read the excerpt and answer the questions that follow.
There is now abundant research evidence that pregnant adolescents are at especially high risk of pregnancy complications, of having low-birth-weight infants, and of neonatal deaths (Hillard, 1997; Travis, 1996; Brown, 1998). Relatively few researchers, however, have examined the health of children born to adolescent mothers after the first few weeks of life. The limited data that are available suggest that children of young mothers continue to be at a disadvantage throughout their infancy and later childhood. For example, Bradley and Lewis (1995) studied the health records from clinic visits of over 1000 infants and reported that the health of infants born to teenaged mothers was worse than that of infants of older mothers; particular problems were noted with respect to the incidence of hypoglycemia, respiratory distress syndrome, pneumonia, and seizures. Hughes (2000), in her in-depth study of 18 young-parent families, reported that the infants experienced extensive health problems, with many having been hospitalized by the time they were 18 months old. According to Tilmon (1999), "These young women are simply not capable of attending to the needs of their children until their health problems are so severe they require hospitalization" (p. 315).
Other investigators have proved that accidents and injuries are more prevalent among infants born to teenaged mothers. For example, Wright (1997) reported that the risk of infant accidental death was highest among mothers between 15 and 19 years of age. Similarly, Kestecher and **inson (1999) found that the most important difference in the health status of 3-year-old children with teenaged versus older mothers was the high incidence of injuries and burns to those children with young mothers.
Few empirical studies have attempted to unravel the factors that might lead to impaired health among children born to younger mothers. The purpose of this study was to further explore the factors that might lead to greater health problems and less appropriate use of health care among children born to adolescent mothers.
Questions
1. Is this literature review likely to be thorough?
2. Does this review cite quantitative research, qualitative research, or both?
3. In this literature review, what would be considered the independent variable in the studies reviewed?
4. In this literature review, what would be considered the dependent variables in the studies reviewed?
5. Is there a sentence in the first paragraph that is inappropriate and should be removed or reworded?
6. Is there a sentence in the second paragraph that is inappropriate and should be removed or reworded?
7. Are all of the references to research reports, or does it appear that other materials were used in the review?
8. Is there anything in this review to suggest that the studies included in the review might have had methodologic or conceptual limitations?
9. Identify key words that you would use to search for literature on the same topic.