Becoming and being a teenage mother: how teenage girls in South Western Sweden view their situation

Health Care Women Int. 2005 Aug;26(7):591-603. doi: 10.1080/07399330591004917.

Abstract

Our aim in this study was to describe the perspectives, experiences, and reasoning about becoming and being a teenage mother by Swedish teenage girls. Twenty pregnant and parenting teenage girls, aged 15 to 19 years, were interviewed. The teenagers described a pattern of early childbirth in their families, lack of opportunity in life, and ambivalence in contraceptive use as reasons for becoming a teenage mother. They experienced being pregnant and a teenage mother as both a positive transition into adulthood but also as a physiological and psychological hardship. Furthermore, the teenagers emphasized the importance of supportive relationships with families, friends, and society as a prerequisite for successful parenting. The results of our study may be viewed as generating a working hypothesis that can be transferred to other settings on the basis of the information gathered.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological*
  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Behavior / psychology*
  • Family Relations
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Life Change Events
  • Maternal-Child Nursing / standards
  • Mothers / psychology*
  • Narration
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy in Adolescence / psychology*
  • Prenatal Care / standards
  • Psychology, Adolescent
  • Self Concept
  • Social Support*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Sweden