This study is an exploration of participants' experiences of being pregnant as young women. The study attempts to respond to the following set of questions: What are the issues that surround young women's pregnancy in general? How has history shaped the construction of womanhood, family, sexuality, motherhood and young women's pregnancy? What are the beliefs, perceptions and policies surrounding young women's pregnancy and that underlie responses to it and how might they (beliefs, perceptions and policies) be changed? How do issues of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS among young women interact with issues of pregnancy? What are the ways in which schools, students and pregnant young women handle the issue of pregnancy, the continuation of pregnancy while schooling, and the implications or impact on the women's career trajectories? What are the experiences of women who have been pregnant at young ages with regard to their education (including the implications for it)? The study utilized a feminist research methodology to interact with women who have been pregnant while schooling. In addition, the study employed feminist research to establish the way in which the Basotho construct young women's pregnancy and to decipher the basis for the way this is constructed. A survey questionnaire was used to generate baseline data on the current interactions of school and young women's pregnancy. The storied lives of pregnant women have been shared in the study in their Lesotho context, a small mountain Kingdom completely land locked by South Africa. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight previously pregnant women while some past pregnant women were accessed by the use of focus group interviews. Additional interviews were conducted with principals, parents, siblings, proprietors, and partners of past pregnant young women. The researcher’s autobiography as a previously pregnant young woman was also used. The data in the study was analyzed at different levels. The first level was a narrative analysis of the eight stories, including the autobiography, which have been presented as their stories. Data from the focus group interviews was analyzed by picking up themes from the interviews and presented by discussing the themes together with some of the direct words of the participants to reinforce the discussion. A cross sectional narrative analysis was done for principals, parents, siblings, proprietors and partners. A narrative analysis was also done for a separate principals ' survey. At the final stage the study brings together information that relates to the research questions. The analysis of the experiences of young woman's pregnancy has been illuminated by the interrogation of who constructs these experiences, what the constructions are and what they are based upon. Each story in the study is unique and not dependent on another however, it is interesting to note that the way young women's pregnancy interacts with the family, partner, school and religion has much to do with the social construction. The sudden altering of context of "good girl" to "bad girl" causes a sharp shift of the pregnant young woman's experiences, thus the fluid nature of social construction is observable. The negotiations that occur as individuals struggle to handle pregnancy are brought forward. The study has not gone without observations on the challenges faced. The study has also moved from the context based possibilities to the way forward. / Theses (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Teenage pregnancy is seen, on the whole, by researchers and service providers as a social problem. Various theoretical approaches have been utilised in the attempt to explain teenage pregnancy, and to find 'solutions' to the problem. What is common to these approaches is the assumption of the reality of teenage pregnancy, and the legitimation of the intervention of the expert. This thesis is concerned with these fundamental premises of the scientific literature and professional practice with regard to young women, their sexuality and reproductive behaviour. A feminist post-structuralist approach, which draws on the insights of Derrida concerning the absent trace and Foucault's analytics of power and governmentality, is taken. The tensions and commonalities between feminism and a Foucauldian approach are explored, and a radically plural post-structural feminism is explicated. The data used in this study consisted of South African scientific literature on teenage pregnancy (the technologies of representation), and transcriptions of interviews with service providers at a regional hospital (the technologies of intervention). The bulk ofthe thesis is taken up with analysis of the first of these. The aims of these chapters are to analyse how: (1) a range oftaken-for-granted assumptions or absent traces regarding, inter alia, the nature of adolescence, adolescent sexuality, mothering, and family formation and function underlie the scientific statements regarding the causes and consequences of teenage pregnancy; (2) the governmental tactics of medicalisation, psychologisation and pedagogisation are invoked in the literature with regard to teenage pregnancy; and (3) broader governmental tactics (the familialisation of alliance, the conjugalisation of reproduction, racialisation, the economisation of activity) are deployed in the literature to achieve particular gendering, racialising and class-based effects. The section on the technologies of intervention analyses how the governmental tactics described above are installed in the everyday lives of teenagers and their families through the deployment of the mechanisms of security at the interface between the service provider and the teenager or her parents. Finally, the undermining of the assumption of the reality of teenage pregnancy, the link between expertise and government, and the efficacy of the feminist post-structural approach are reviewed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

This study aims to explore and describe the effects of teenage pregnancy on the school life of teenage mothers who are learners at The High School. It also seeks to generate guidelines which could be useful for educators, programme planners, and other stakeholders involved in designing intervention programmes to help teenage girls avoid unintended pregnancies and those who have fallen into this trap, to be resilient. The sample consists of thirteen learners who were either pregnant or teenage mothers already. The participants were purposively chosen from grades 8-12, two from each grade and five from grade 12. This study uses a qualitative, contextual, descriptive design to investigate the effects the teenage pregnancy has on the lives of girls who fall pregnant while at school. It employs a case study methodology and the data collection instruments included face-to-face interviews and document analysis such as mark schedules and attendance registers. The findings revealed that teenage pregnancy causes tension in the girls' families; the physical changes and experience of pregnancy impacts on their school life; pregnancy causes emotional instability in the teenage girls' lives and their education is indeed disadvantaged. A positive aspect is that there is a chance to make up for the lost time if educational opportunities and support exist. The researcher recommends that there should be support for pregnant girls and teenage mothers within the school system. For this study to have more impact as well as influence policy makers and senior Departmental officials to act upon these recommendations, it is advisable that further research be conducted in other schools to explore the impact of teenage pregnancies on their school life in particular, and schools in general. / Theses (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

HIV and AIDS is still a major problem especially in Sub Saharan Africa. The levels of new infections are still relatively high which implies that the numerous national and international efforts to curb the transmission of HIV are not having the desired effect. Furthermore, the accelerated rate of teenage pregnancy is also indicative of the failure of these efforts. The high teenage pregnancy rate suggests that many teenagers do not practise safe sex. This could be attributed to the many pressures teenagers experience regarding sex and sexuality. Teenage mothers are likely to experience the same or double, the pressure and I was curious to understand their stance on unsafe sex practises especially after having a baby. This research study elicits an understanding of how these young mothers construct, present and negotiate their sexuality within the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Issues of sex and sexuality in relation to gender roles, gender identities, constructions of sexuality and teenage motherhood were investigated. The findings reveal two key points: regret inspires determination to succeed and that love and romance are dominant discourses in the construction of sexual risk among teenage mothers within the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. All the teenage mothers in this research study indicated that completion of their studies should have taken priority to motherhood. Even though most of the participants in this study acknowledge that love and romance are essential, they are now more cautious and either abstains from sex or practise safe sex. This research study has found that the hardship and responsibilities associated with motherhood have served to motivate these participants to change their risky sexual behaviour and verifies Burr’s (2003) social constructionist perspective by showing how identity is fluid and context dependent, relying on social interactions and experiences. / Theses (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

American adolescents are no more sexually active than adolescents in other Western nations. Each year more than one million American teenagers become pregnant, which gives the United States the dubious distinction of leading the industrialized world in the highest rates of teenage pregnancy. With the number of adolescent pregnancies increasing yearly, the cost of healthcare has become a major concern for healthcare providers. Because the teen's viewpoint is different from that of an adult, this research study focused upon the issue of teen pregnancy through the eyes of the pregnant adolescent.Heideggerian phenomenology was used as the research methodology to acquire information regarding the lived experience of pregnancy for the single adolescent, with Heideggerdian hermeneutics used in the interpretation of interviews. A purposive sample of five single primipara adolescents living in a teen home, in a large metropolitan area of a Midwestern state was utilized. Each interview was given a number in order to protect the confidentially of the participant. Interviews were audio taped and were transcribed by the researcher. The audio tapes were destroyed at the end of the study. The data obtained were studied by the researcher and others familiar with Heideggerian hermeneutics. The data were analyzed according to the seven step method described by Diekelmann, Allen and Tanner (1989). The findings identified an overall constitutive pattern along with four common themes.The overall constitutive pattern which emerged was "Pregnancy as a diverse human experience." Along with the constitutive pattern identified were four other common themes: (a) Body image changes as being within oneself; (b) Being marked as a pregnant teenager; (c) Pregnancy as loss; and (d) Pregnancy as connectedness. Both the constitutive pattern and the common themes were validated by the adolescent interviewed. The conclusions of this study showed that teens were aware of the methods of contraception and pregnancy but were unaware of the impact pregnancy would have on the teen's being in the world. / School of Nursing

While young women from relatively affluent backgrounds tend to abort their pregnancies, young women from relatively deprived backgrounds tend to keep theirs. It has been suggested that this socio-economic-pregnancy outcome relationship is due to some form of subcultural acceptance of teenage motherhood existing among disadvantaged groups. The aim of this thesis was to assess how young, never pregnant women from diverse social and economic backgrounds perceive teenage pregnancy and early motherhood, and to consider whether these perceptions could, at least in part, explain this relationship. 248 women (mean age 15.6) completed a questionnaire which requested information on their lives, experiences, expectations about their futures, and their views of teenage pregnancy and early motherhood. Six discussion groups were then held with selected sub-groups of these women to explore their views in greater detail. As the thesis had an additional aim of exploring the process embarked upon by women following the confirmation of a teenage pregnancy, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight women who were currently pregnant, had recently entered motherhood, or had an abortion. It was evident that young women from relatively deprived backgrounds may be more likely than their relatively affluent peers to predict they would keep a teenage pregnancy, and may anticipate early motherhood as having fewer implications for their current situation and futures. It was also evident that young women may view this role as beneficial and plan their pregnancies. However, it was clear that young women from diverse backgrounds may view early motherhood in a predominately negative light, and a range of factors may influence the outcome of a teenage pregnancy. Thus, whilst there was evidence to support the subcultural acceptance hypothesis, it did appear that this acceptance is one which would maintain a young woman on the pathway to motherhood rather than encouraging her to enter this role.

Thesis (Dr. P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 1991. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-128).

Thesis (Ph.D. (Demography))--Mahidol University, 2007. / LICL has E-Thesis 0030 ; please contact computer services.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Family and Child Ecology, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on June 19, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 140-152). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ed.D.) -- Teachers College, Columbia University, 1991. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Susan W. Salmond. Dissertation Committee: Jane A. Monroe. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-148).