How Adolescent Mothers Feel About Becoming a Parent (original) (raw)

Self-Perceptions of Parenting Among Adolescent Mothers

Journal of Perinatal Education, 2007

Using a descriptive correlational design, this study examined factors that contribute to self-perceptions of parenting among adolescent mothers 4 to 6 weeks postpartum. Healthy, first-time, 13-to 19-year-old adolescent mothers (n ¼ 126) identified their own mothers as their primary source for social support. Additionally, the more tangible the support from the adolescent's mother, the lower the evaluation of self-perceptions of parenting. Older, more educated adolescent mothers were more positive in self-perceptions of parenting, suggesting that older adolescents have different needs in terms of parenting than younger adolescent mothers. These findings are important for designing and implementing nursing care and educating adolescents about the importance of social support, education, and parenting.

Exploring the Challenges of Adolescent Mothers From Their Life Experiences in the Transition to Motherhood: A Qualitative Study

2017

Objective: Early motherhood and its impact on mothers, children, families and communities is a prevalent health challenge in developing countries that needs to be urgently explored. The aim of this study was exploring the challenges encountered by Iranian adolescent mothers during the transition to motherhood. Materials and methods: Inductive conventional content analysis approach was used in this qualitative study. Face to face in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 Iranian teenage mothers in the Kerman province of Iran from March to December2016. Data collection continued until the point of data saturation and MAXQDA software was utilized in the analysis of the data. Results: Six main categories increasing burden of responsibility, experiencing physical problems, receiving insufficient support, inefficiency in maternal role, emotional and mental distress; and role conflict and 18 sub-categories were extracted from the data analysis. Conclusion: The findings of ...

Adolescent mothers' experiences of the transition to motherhood: An integrative review

International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 2019

A woman experiences heightened vulnerability and faces tremendous challenges when transitioning to motherhood. This is exacerbated for young mothers and studies have shown that adolescent mothers experience an increased burden of responsibility during the transition to motherhood. Recent research addressing the experiences of adolescent mothers has increased. However, the current literature on this topic is still fragmented. The aim of this study was to conduct an integrative review of the literature to explore adolescent mothers' experiences of transition to motherhood and identify associated factors. The literature was searched using electronic databases: Medline, Cumulative index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), ProQuest, Scopus and PubMed. Relevant articles published in English from February 2005 to 2018 were included. Eighteen articles were included in the analysis. Based on this review, factors influencing a successful to transition to motherhood for adolescents included physical problems related to birth and breastfeeding, psychological well-being, ability to care for their baby, social support, education and economic strain and the provision of healthcare. The literature indicated a relationship between social supports and the development of positive maternal identity in the transition period for adolescent motherhood. Future healthcare interventions for adolescent mothers during the transitional period should aim to provide social support and the increase ability of adolescent mothers to manage the physical and psychological challenges of young motherhood, and enhance new mothers' knowledge about caring for babies.

The experience of adolescents being mothers at a young age scoping review

International Journal of Health Science and Technology, 2021

Life changes that occur in adolescents who marry at a young age provide challenges for adolescents in living a new life. The period of marriage, pregnancy and childbirth experienced by adolescents at a young age becomes a new transition stage for them to take on a new role to become a mother. The aim of the scoping review is to review evidence related to adolescent experiences of motherhood at a young age. This scoping review used the Arksey and O'Malley framework. Identification of relevant studies used 4 databases. The results of this scoping review consisted of 15 selected articles. The results of the thematic analysis emerged 2 themes, which were the psychological state of adolescents to become mothers at a young age and the support needed by adolescents when they become mothers at a young age.

“I Managed It Pretty Good”: Birth Narratives of Adolescent Mothers

The Journal of Perinatal Education, 2014

The aim of this study was to understand adolescent mothers’ childbirth experiences. Semistructured interviews were conducted with participants recruited from a community-based program for adolescent mothers. Fourteen mothers described their birth experiences. Using a narrative analytic approach, responses were reconstructed into birth stories. Stories, condensed into poetic form, were compared and contrasted. Four unique categories emerged: connected births, surreal births, disconnected births, and disempowered births. Categories differed by agency, support, and emotional tone. Positive support was found in stories that portrayed high agency and positive affect, whereas problematic support was apparent in stories that conveyed passivity, frustration, and disappointment. This study has implications for tailoring childbirth education for adolescent mothers and can inform health-care professionals working with this population.

Meeting the needs of pregnant and parenting teenagers using research

Critical practice with children and young people

Pregnant and parenting teenagers have needs that are unique to the developmental stages of adolescence in addition to the needs common to all pregnant women. The study investigated the experiences, needs and coping strategies of pregnant and parenting teenagers. The study utilized a phenomenological approach, where in-depth interviews with pregnant and parenting teenagers were conducted to get an insight into their experiences, needs and coping strategies. Participants were purposively selected. A sample size was 27 participants which was determined using data saturation principle. Three themes emerged on the experiences of teenage pregnancy and parenting including, abandonment and rejection, loss of parental support and burden of being pregnant or being a parent, while three broad needs were identified; information about HIV status, physical materials for the unborn or new born baby and mother, and the desire to go back to school for those who fall pregnant while schooling. Both adaptive and maladaptive strategies were identified as a means for coping including, avoidance of negativity, support from parents, relatives and partner, repentance and dependence on God, focusing on own and the child's future, and denial of pregnancy or motherhood. It was concluded that pregnant and parenting teenagers undergo diverse negative experiences, while negotiating the transition from teenage hood to adulthood and motherhood amidst unmet teenage and pregnancy related needs. As a means to cope with the negativity and live within circumstances of unmet teenage and motherhood needs, coping strategies are required.

Building a "Better Life": The Transformative Effects of Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting

SAGE Open, 2015

Adolescent pregnancy is often described as a major concern in public health and is associated with negative outcomes for educational and career attainment. Our objective was to compare the future aspirations of pregnant and parenting adolescents and identify social or structural barriers that they experience in their daily lives using journal entries from pregnant and parenting adolescents. The journals, which served as primary data sources, were completed by 52 multi-ethnic pregnant and parenting adolescents aged 15 to 19 in Indiana. Both pregnant and parenting adolescents aspired to provide a "better life" for their children that included finishing school and obtaining a career. An emergent theme is that the experience of pregnancy and parenting is transformative and may invoke a positive refocusing of life aspirations for educational and career attainment. However, social stigma and barriers exist that make achieving educational and employment opportunities difficult. The study findings indicate that pregnant and parenting adolescents need strong social support networks and practical tools to help harness their motivation and transcend social and material barriers to achieve their goals and aspirations.

Realities and perspectives of adolescent mothers in their first pregnancy

Revista brasileira de enfermagem

to understand the trajectory of adolescents regarding the first pregnancy, contemplating realities and perspectives. qualitative study, based on the Schütz theoretical framework, with 30 adolescents assisted in an outpatient clinic for adolescents in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. From the narrative interviews carried out in the first semester of 2013, in the return for the first consultation of the puerperium, the communicative processes were identified, the central ideas and units of meanings expressed in the themes were abstracted: I was dating and became pregnant; realities and perspectives. adolescents justified pregnancy through sexual drive and insufficient prevention; they narrated the fear faced, difficulties in motherhood and continuity of studies. The realities coexisted with the prospects of family members and partners helping to educate the child to achieve a different future from what they themselves experienced. adolescents experienced motherhood with ambivalent conflicts ...

The Maternity Experience Seen by Adolescent Mothers

2012

The teenage motherhood discourse as a pathological phenomenon is not only promoted by the mass media; teenage motherhood, the associated factors, and its consequences have been the object of social research for four decades (Furstenberg, 1978). Traditional literature on the subject reflects the extensive interest in the social exclusion of these mothers and their dependence on services. Such traditional scientific research, usually quantitative, has always legitimised specialised interventions, and shaped public policies relating to teenage mothers. The connection to science legitimises such interventions, and can subtly take on political substrata and biological interests, influencing the way in which we experience the world (Foucault, 1980). The confluence between the slanderous discourses in the mass media, the scientific discourses, and last but not least, my experience as a specialist, who came into contact with teenage mothers' experiences, raised my interest in this subject. Therefore, I started from the assumption that teenage motherhood is a social construct (Macleod, 2001), and I tried, in the

The Mother’s Role in Mother-Child Relationship Among Adolescents with Unwanted Pregnancies

‘Abqari Journal, 2021

The mother’s role is essential in an adolescent’s development due to the challenges of life and exposure to the outside world, which affect and constantly change the mother’s role. This study intends to explore the experiences of the mother’s roles in the mother-child relationship among adolescents with unwanted pregnancies. A phenomenological approach was employed to obtain the essence of the experiences. A total of 10 participants comprising of five pregnant adolescents and their mothers were interviewed to understand the role played by the adolescents’ mothers during the pregnancy. A diary was distributed among the adolescents to allow them to externalise and express the experiences that they had with their mothers while being pregnant. This study used thematic analysis because it is flexible in interpreting the data and allows to approach large data sets more easily by sorting them into broad themes. Five themes emerged as follows: (a) supervising and monitoring, (b) rules and r...