Restructuring life within the context of adolescent motherhood

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorEmmer, Edmund T.en
dc.creatorBaker-Spann, Kelley Allisonen
dc.date.accessioned2011-03-15T19:19:15Zen
dc.date.available2011-03-15T19:19:15Zen
dc.date.issued2001-12en
dc.descriptiontexten
dc.description.abstractThis study explored the experience of motherhood for adolescent females who were in school, completing their high school education. The fact that the birth of a baby during adolescence leads to decreased educational, professional, and personal accomplishments is well documented. The participants in this study identified conditions and variables that led to positive outcomes such as increased educational goals and professional goals and a heightened enjoyment of life. Participants were involved in a parenting program that included childcare and parenting and educational support. Therefore all of the positive changes reported are made within the context of the program. There is no assumption made to suggest that changes would occur without this support. Educational and psychological research in the areas of resiliency and protective factors, identity development, and adolescent parenthood, guided this study. Resiliency studies have identified characteristics of children and adolescents, who despite many obstacles, achieve educational and professional successes that many of their “at-risk” peers do not. This study found that a high-risk situation such vii as adolescent motherhood could be analyzed from a resiliency perspective by interviewing young mothers whose educational goals remained stable or increased and whose professional and personal stability increased rather than decreased after the birth of their baby. In this study, 13 adolescent mothers were interviewed to examine the conditions and variables that enabled them to continue their education, despite the fact that they had babies before finishing high school. The participants ranged between the ages of 15 and 21. They were a mixed sample in terms of ethnicity, current living situations, and marital status. All of the interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using the Strauss and Corbin (1990) grounded theory methodology. Open coding was followed by axial coding, which eventually revealed a “central category” entitled “restructuring life within the context of adolescent motherhood.” Causal conditions of (1) pregnancy and (2) a decision to keep the baby, were identified. The young women described various changes that took place after the birth of the baby which influenced their ability to make positive changes such as reestablishing close ties with primary caretakers, increasing intimacy within current relationships, and creating new close relationships with their baby, other adults, and other teen moms.
dc.description.departmentEducational Psychologyen
dc.format.mediumelectronicen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/10519en
dc.language.isoengen
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.en
dc.rights.restrictionRestricteden
dc.subjectTeenage mothers--Education--United Statesen
dc.subjectTeenage pregnancy--Education--United Statesen
dc.titleRestructuring life within the context of adolescent motherhooden
thesis.degree.departmentEducational Psychologyen
thesis.degree.disciplineEducation Psychologyen
thesis.degree.grantorThe University of Texas at Austinen
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen

Access full-text files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
bakerspannk019.pdf
Size:
1.07 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Restricted to EID users
Download

License bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.66 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

UT Electronic Theses and Dissertations