A rline Geronimus' provocative commentary on my article,'As the Pendulum Swings: Teenage Childbearing and Social Concern,"(Furstenberg, 1991) deserves a reply. Professor Geronimus complains that I have distorted her views and presented her thesis in a misleading way. Where she sees misrepresentation, I see only disagreement on the plausibility of her arguments and the weight of evidence supporting them. My reasons for continuing this dialogue are much the same as for writing the earlier essay-to point out unsettled research questions that require further investigation.

Geronimus' hypothesis-that early childbearing may be" culturally rational" among highly disadvantaged populations because it minimizes health risks to infants and their caregivers and optimizes the chances of children being well cared for-is intriguing. So too is her claim that disadvantaged women suffer little or no penalty for having children in their schoolage years. Either or both of these claims may be eventually substantiated by future research." As the Pendulum Swings" argues only that the empirical evidence in support of her arguments is weak and that her recommendation that policymakers and practitioners ought to rethink their efforts to postpone early childbearing is premature. After reading'Teenage Childbearing and Reproductive Disadvantage," I am even more convinced that Geronimus is too hasty in dismissing evidence that contradicts her thesis and too generous in accepting supporting evidence.