This paper aims to discuss the construction of teenage pregnancy as a social problem. It also seeks to present and analyze the data of the qualitative phase of the research study Teenage Pregnancy: A Multicentric Study of Young People, Sexuality and Reproduction in Brazil (GRAVAD study) undertaken in four Brazilian capitals: Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. The data indicate the indissoluble character of the articulation between social class and gender in the understanding of the phenomenon of teenage pregnancy. Among girls from the middle class we observe alterations in their management of their school projects and course, which, until that point, were processed in a linear manner. The same does not occur among girls from lower income groups whose irregularity in school life is independent of motherhood. Among the young men there are no significant changes, since middle class boys not interrupt their school projects or courses, and boys from lower income groups enter the work force precociously, and this is not a direct consequence of teenage fatherhood.
teenage pregnancy; youth; family