Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, English, General Literature, and Rhetoric Department, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Much of the research on women who become mothers during their teenage years has focused on risks and negative outcomes. Many of these risks are directly linked to the limited education of women who become pregnant before finishing high school. Research indicates that many young pregnant and parenting women drop out of high school and live in poverty.., Some women, however, who become mothers during their high school years do go on to complete high school as well as post-secondary education, which significantly reduces the risks associated with poverty. In this study, I have revealed the experiences of one woman who became a mother before she had completed high school. After experiencing many of the risks associated with adolescence, as well as lone-parenting, she went on to pursue a university degree. Her story lends insight into the issues, challenges, and resiliency factors she faced along her journey. Hers is a story not only of personal change and development but also of issues reaching beyond her life into the social arena. Using Immersion/Chrystallization of the interview and fieldnotes collected for this study, I have presented this positive research as an evocative story. To represent this story, I used elements of both autoethnography and fiction. Themes and significant events within the participant's life were represented in the form of fictional accounts., which I connected and interpreted through my own experience, providing the autoethnographic component of this research. The ultimate purpose of this research is the evocative story that I have presented. This is a story that will lead the reader to understand the complexity of the life of a lone-mother, to know the story of her life and to enter into her feelings, to find her inner story. It is a story that not only tells of personal experiences but also confronts the patriarchal structures of society that enmesh lone-mothers and challenges many of the myths or grand narratives that define the lives of teenage mothers.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the self-perceptions of mothers who remained at home with infants differed from self-perceptions of mothers who were employed outside the home with infants. Selected aspects of the mothering role and employment orientation were examined. The sample consisted of seventy-five mothers of twelve- to eighteen-month-old infants. The subjects resided in northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio.A survey instrument was developed through a pilot study to gather information needed to test the null hypothesis. All subjects were interviewed personally in their own homes to obtain data for the study. The .05 level of significance was established as the probability level for the nonacceptance of the hypothesis.The subjects were placed in one of two groups, mothers who remained at home with their infant and mothers who were employed outside the home for more than twenty hours a week. Those employed outside the home must have been employed for the six months before and including the month of the interview. A multivariate analysis of variance and associated univariate analysis of variance were used to test the study hypothesis.The two groups of mothers were found to differ significantly from one another on one of the six measures of self-perception. The six measures statistically analyzed were:(1) self-esteem, (2) childrearing behavior, (3) guilt, (4) employment orientation, (5) monetary consideration relative to employment and intrinsic motivation relative to employment, and (6) effect on the family. The measure that contributed to the rejection of the hypothesis was the variable "effect on the family." There was no difference between the. two groups on the remaining five variables.A descriptive analysis of open-ended questions yielded further information: (1) mothers with infants preferred their present roles, whether they remained at home or were employed outside the home; (2) mothers enjoyed their roles whether at home or at work outside the home; (3) mothers employed outside the home were more likely to express feelings of guilt when leaving their infants than mothers who remained at home; and (4) mothers were supported by their husbands in their decisions to remain at home or to be employed outside the home.

Much of the research on women who become mothers during their teenage years has focused on risks and negative outcomes. Many of these risks are directly linked to the limited education of women who become pregnant before finishing high school. Research indicates that many young pregnant and parenting women drop out of high school and live in poverty.., Some women, however, who become mothers during their high school years do go on to complete high school as well as post-secondary education, which significantly reduces the risks associated with poverty. In this study, I have revealed the experiences of one woman who became a mother before she had completed high school. After experiencing many of the risks associated with adolescence, as well as lone-parenting, she went on to pursue a university degree. Her story lends insight into the issues, challenges, and resiliency factors she faced along her journey. Hers is a story not only of personal change and development but also of issues reaching beyond her life into the social arena. Using Immersion/Chrystallization of the interview and fieldnotes collected for this study, I have presented this positive research as an evocative story. To represent this story, I used elements of both autoethnography and fiction. Themes and significant events within the participant's life were represented in the form of fictional accounts., which I connected and interpreted through my own experience, providing the autoethnographic component of this research. The ultimate purpose of this research is the evocative story that I have presented. This is a story that will lead the reader to understand the complexity of the life of a lone-mother, to know the story of her life and to enter into her feelings, to find her inner story. It is a story that not only tells of personal experiences but also confronts the patriarchal structures of society that enmesh lone-mothers and challenges many of the myths or grand narratives that define the lives of teenage mothers.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2002. / Field problem. Includes bibliographical references.

Inaug.-diss.--Münster. / Lebenslauf. At head of title: Germanistik. "Literaturverzelchnis": p. 91-94.