Parenting, always a complex and difficult task, is even more difficult for teenage parents who are generally less able financially, emotionally, and cognitively than adults to nurture and care for their children. The relationship between the combined effect of knowledge of child development and level of social-emotional maturity, and the extent to which this relationship affects adolescent attitudes toward parenting was investigated in 434 females from junior colleges, a university, and a junior high school. Subjects completed the Knowledge of Child Development Inventory, the California Psychological Inventory, and the Adult/Adolescent Parenting Inventory. The analysis of the data (multiple regression and canonical analysis) suggested that there were significant relationships among the variables being examined. In general, the relationships indicated that subjects' negative attitudes toward parenting were associated with lack of knowledge of child development and low levels of social-emotional maturity, and subjects' positive attitudes toward parenting were associated with knowledge of child development and high levels of social-emotional maturity. The joint impact of knowledge of child development and social-emotional maturity factors on attitudes toward parenting accounted for 51 percent of the variation among the variables. (Several data tables are included throughout the text.) (Author/NRB)