Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from title screen. Sherry Gaines, committee chair; Kathleen Wilson, Wendy Simonds, committee members. Electronic text (144 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 16, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-144).

Previous academic literature and Government agendas and policies share concerns about schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be not continuing in education and having lower qualifications. Despite this, research has not considered why schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be are more likely to drop out of education or why it is so difficult for them to continue. This thesis is an in-depth study of the experiences and challenges faced by schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be while continuing in education. Within this research consideration is given to: the deficit model that characterises schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be as discussed in the existing research literature; the experiences and challenges of schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be while attending school; and the support provided by education and health professionals to schoolgirl mothers/mothersto- be. The analysis of data (from questionnaires and interviews) was guided by three research questions: What experiences and challenges do schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be (aged 18 and under) living in Scotland encounter when continuing in education? What are the different approaches taken by local authorities in supporting schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be whilst at school? How do education and health professionals (school staff, health visitors) in schools and the National Health Service (NHS) support schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be while continuing in education during pregnancy and the early stages of motherhood? A review of policy was carried out across all local authorities in Scotland asking for information about how schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be are supported in school. The results of the review helped to identify the local authorities to be approached for inclusion in the study. Eleven local authorities and twenty-nine schools or alternative provisions across Scotland are represented in this study. Forty-three schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be who attended schools or alternative provisions within the eleven local authorities participated. Schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be completed a questionnaire and participated in an individual or group interview. A follow-up interview was conducted 9-12 months later. Seventeen members of staff from schools or an alternative provision that participants attended were interviewed. An interview was also held with five health visitors from the five NHS Boards across Scotland that the identified local authorities fell within. Overall, the experiences of participants in this study often do not fit with the deficit model that characterises schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be in popular accounts or Government agendas and policies. Many participants had a ‘really good’ or ‘good’ experience of school before pregnancy, conflicting with the expectation of disengagement with education. Schoolgirl mothers do have conflicting legal demands to remain in education and care for their baby but the data do not suggest that all are either engaged or disengaged from the education system. Professionals sometimes unintentionally exacerbated difficulties. Only a minority of participants were given the opportunity of a flexible tailored curriculum to attend school and college. Schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be could have had a much better experience at school had support such as childcare and transport assistance been provided. The relationship between professionals and schoolgirl mothers/mothers-to-be is key to help them overcome the different experiences and challenges of continuing in education while pregnant or after having a baby.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 296-308). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Cur.) -- University of Limpopo, 2014 / The purpose of this study was to explore effects of teenage motherhood on the secondary education of the female learner. A qualitative research method and a descriptive, exploratory research design were adopted to undertake the study. Five one-on-one interviews were conducted and the data was analysed by using Tesch’s method of analysis. Three themes and nine sub-themes were generated from the analysed data. The research findings indicate that teenage motherhood does not have a negative effect on the ability of the learner to continue attending school, but also suggest that the various challenges experienced by the learner do have adverse effects on her school performance and ultimate decision to suspend school. There were other factors that influenced her academic performance and decision to continue or suspend school attendance; namely family support, experiences at school, as well as the cultural beliefs, traditions, and perceptions of the society she was living in. Key concepts: Teenage motherhood, effects, secondary education.

Six serial focus groups were used to explore the perceptions of postpartum depression among nine adolescent mothers. The discussions were tape recorded, transcribed and analyzed using symbolic interaction theory, specifically Goffman's concept of stigma. Participants identified major stigma themes in relation to postpartum depression, teenage pregnancy and motherhood, all of which were portrayed negatively in the media. Several key causes of adolescent postpartum depression were also found including self esteem relating to poor body image and social support. The findings indicate a much needed change in the way adolescent mothers are identified and treated for postpartum depression. Additionally, the importance of social support in preventing and treating adolescent postpartum depression is highlighted and programs addressing such concerns must be implemented.

Adolescent mothers are a vulnerable population for a multitude of reasons. For one, adolescent mothers concurrently undergo two significant developmental phases and transitions: adolescence and parenting. Adolescence is the psychosocial period of adjustment marked by dramatic neural, hormonal, cognitive, psychological, physical, and biological changes. While adolescence is a time of cognitive advancement, it is also a time of stress, identity development, peer pressure, mood disruptions, and emotion regulation difficulties. While parenthood presents with positive changes, it simultaneously introduces challenges, such as increases in caretaking responsibilities, time commitment, and distress. Additionally, as statistics have shown, many adolescent mothers face a host of risk factors (e.g., poverty, low socioeconomic status (SES), and low educational attainment), making these “adolescent mothers at risk (AMARs)” a highly vulnerable population. Adolescence is also a time when substance use initiation and experimentation occur. While some level of substance use is normative among adolescents, substance use is especially detrimental for adolescent mothers and their children. According to the literature, substance-using mothers differ from their non-substance-using counterparts in terms of how the former parent their children. For example, substance-using mothers tend to display decreased levels of warmth (Barnow, Schuckit, Lucht, John, & Freyberger, 2002; Gruber and Taylor, 2006; Mayes & Truman, 2002; Suchman et al., 2007) as well as extreme styles of parenting (e.g., minimal supervision and intolerant attitudes) (Suchman & Luthar, 2000). This dissertation used archived data to examine AMARs and explore their levels of distress tolerance, substance use, and parenting attitudes and beliefs. Specifically, this dissertation sought to address the following questions: Is there an association between distress tolerance, substance use, and parenting attitudes and beliefs? Does substance use mediate the association between distress tolerance and parenting attitudes and beliefs? Seventy-two mothers living in nine Transitional Living Programs (TLPs) across a Northeast state were interviewed. Participants were aged 16-22 years with a mean age of 19. Participants were predominantly Latino and African American, and nearly half of the participants reported having a history of living in foster care or group home with an average of five years spent in these institutions. Data were collected from the baseline interview of a pilot randomized control trial examining an intervention for increasing positive parenting among homeless AMARs. Distress tolerance was operationalized via the Distress Tolerance Scale (Simons & Gaher, 2005), and parenting attitudes and beliefs were operationalized through the Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory-2 (Bavolek & Keene, 2010). Lifetime and recent frequency of substance use was also examined. Race/ethnicity was controlled for in all analyses because the past literature has documented racial/ethnic minority adolescent mothers experiencing more adversities and vulnerabilities compared to their White counterparts (Huang et al., 2014, 2019). Consistent with the literature, we found an association between distress tolerance and substance use, substance use and parenting attitudes and beliefs, as well as distress tolerance and parenting attitudes and beliefs. Specifically, there was an association between low distress tolerance and high levels of substance use; high levels of substance use and poor parenting attitudes and beliefs; and low distress tolerance and poor parenting attitudes and beliefs. In terms of the mediation analysis, only substance use within the past six months mediated the relationship between distress tolerance and parenting attitudes and beliefs. In other words, low distress tolerance led to higher levels of substance use within the past six months, which in turn led to poorer parenting attitudes and beliefs. One implication of the results is that recent substance use, rather than lifetime history, has a more salient effect on parenting attitudes and beliefs. Overall, the majority of the AMARs in the current study’s sample demonstrated resilience and had scores reflective of positive parenting attitudes and beliefs despite their notably low levels of distress tolerance. While the results of the study are promising, they should be interpreted with caution considering several limitations, including a small effect size from the mediation analysis and potential underreporting among AMARs. Future research should continue to explore various iterations of the research question (e.g., different combinations of distress tolerance, substance use, and parenting attitudes and beliefs as the independent, mediating, and outcome variables) and psychometric properties of the measures utilized.

This research examines the childhood abuse and maltreatment experiences of adolescent mothers (age 14 to 17; N = 80) to investigate if these experiences have hindered their socioemotional development and consequently, their parenting behaviors and attitudes. Data were gathered using four standardized self-report instruments: the Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC), the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory-Youth Version (EQi-YV), and the Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2). Two additional questionnaires were developed to gather demographic and social service information to add to the knowledge base of the field, and to examine what (if any) developmentally focused services young mothers may need. Interitem and interscale correlations, simple regressions, and hierarchical regressions were produced and examined to determine the strength and types of relationships between the variables. The explanatory capabilities of sets of predictor variables were tested as well. Overall 76.3% of participants reported experiencing childhood abuse and/or neglect above minimal levels. Predictor variables high levels of emotional neglect and depression significantly predicted lower socioemotional development (p < .001 and p < .05); higher levels of socioemotional development significantly predicted more positive parenting attitudes regarding corporal punishment (p < .05); and socioeconomic status predicted more positive empathy and role reversal parental attitudes (p < .05). The results of the research also supported alternative hypotheses regarding the need for appropriate and specific developmental and clinical services for teenage mothers who have suffered childhood trauma and neglect. In spite of the high maltreatment rate reported by participants, only 24% of participants had received any family therapy and only 41% had received any individual therapy. Other developmental and/or clinical service provision proportions were quite low as well (range 24-54% not received). Accordingly, demographic and services data are provided, descriptively analyzed, and discussed in detail. Study limitations and practice considerations, and a new assessment and service delivery model are offered, as are suggestions for future research.

Contrary to popular belief, teenage mothers are a declining proportion of birthing women; however they receive much negative public attention. Of particular public concern is the high cost of supporting teenage mothers, in terms of financial, health and welfare resources. Historically, the typical founding mother of white Australia was single, but post-war changes in the family structure incorporated the expectation that children be born into two-parent households with the male as the breadwinner. Policy changes in the seventies saw the introduction of the Sole Parents Pension which meant that many birthing teenage women could choose to keep their infants rather than have a clandestine adoption or an enforced marriage. The parenting practices of teenage mothers have been criticised for being less than optimal, and mother and child are reported as being disadvantaged cognitively, psychosocially, and educationally. One widespread nursing service which provides support for new mothers in Victoria is the Maternal and Child Health Service; however, teenage mothers appear reluctant to use such services. Why this should be so became an important question for this research, since little is known about the parenting practices of teenage mothers. This study therefore sought to explore mothering from the perspective of five sole supporting teenage mothers each of whom had a child over six months of age. The research methodology took an interpretive ethnographic approach and was guided by feminist principles. The data were collected through repeated interviewing, participant observation, informal discussions with key informants, field notes and journalling. Data analysis was aided by the use of the software, program NUD-IST. It was found that the young women in this study each chose to give birth with full realisation that their existence was dependent on the Welfare State. Unanticipated, however, were the many structural barriers which made their lives cataclysmic, but these reinforced their determination to prove themselves worthy and capable mothers. The young women negotiated motherhood through a range of social supports and through maternal practice. Unquestionably, their social dependency on the welfare system forced them into marginal citizen status. Moreover, absolute and intrinsic poverty levels were experienced, brought about by inadequate welfare payments. Formal support agencies, such as the Maternal and Child Health nurses were rarely approached to provide childrearing support beyond the initial months following birthing, since the teenagers' basic needs such as shelter, food and clothing took precedence over their parenting needs. Additionally, some nurses were perceived to hold judgmental attitudes towards teenage mothers. It was far easier to forestall confrontation with nurses and the other 'older' women clientele by avoiding them. Thus XI they turned to charitable agencies who provided a safety net in the form of emergency supplies of money, food, or equipment. Informal networks of friends provided alternative modes of support when family help failed to materialise. The children, however, provided the young women with an opportunity to transform their lives by breaking free of the past, and by creating a new, mature existence for themselves. Despite being abandoned by family, friends, lovers and society, in the privacy and isolation of their own homes, they attempted to provide a more nurturing environment for their children than they themselves had received. Each bestowed unconditional maternal love on the child and were rewarded through the pleasures of watching their children grow and develop into worthwhile individuals. The children became the focus of their attention and their reason for living. In the course of their welfare dependency, the young women became public property, targets of surveillance, and were subjected to stigmatising and condescending public attitudes wherever they went. In this way, it was evident that they were an oppressed group, but each found ways of resisting. Rather than focussing on their oppressive or disabling lives, or dwelling on their disadvantaged status, the young women sought their identities as mature women through motherhood and by demonstrating that they could do this important job well. Through motherhood their lives had meaning and a sense of purpose. The thesis concludes that motherhood in the teenage years is difficult. However, if appropriate supports are made available, teenage mothers need be no different from non-teenage mothers. But with state resources shrinking, and their own resources limited, teenage mothers are disadvantaged. In some ways, this study showed that all levels of support were inadequate, although those provided through the charitable organizations were seen to be the most appropriate. This reflects the current policy of economic rationalism adopted by most Western liberal democracies in the 1980s and 1990s and no less by the former Keating Labor Government in Australia.