Publication Date

2009

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department

School for Social Work

Keywords

Teenage mothers-Psychology, Teenage pregnancy-Psychological aspects, Teenage pregnancy-Prevention, Teenage pregnancy-Decision making, Teenage pregnancy-Social aspects, Teenage girls-Sexual behavior, Brain-Growth, Teen-pregnancy, Repeat teen pregnancy, Adolescent pregnancy, Reasons for repeat pregnancy in adolescence, Teenage mothers-Attitudes

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative study was undertaken to try to learn and better understand why an adolescent would chose to have more than one child while still an adolescent herself. As the trends in current literature tend to focus on four primary areas of interest; I structured my questions in order to gain information in the same categories. Those categories include: 1) reasons adolescents become pregnant the first time including repeat pregnancies and contraceptive use, 2) intervention strategies and programs aimed to prevent repeat pregnancies, 3) the larger societal impact of adolescent pregnancy, and 4) adolescent brain development and decision making abilities. I interviewed six participants who were parenting more than one child by the age of 20 and asked them open ended questions about their experiences with regards to getting pregnant the first time, having a repeat pregnancy, their use or non-use of birth control and why, reasons they decided to have their children, and reactions to each of their pregnancies and how they may have differed. What I found in this study was that the participants I interviewed shared reasons, stories, and attitudes that were consistent with what is in the literature, the only exception was that this group fell statistically higher in their education levels than their counterparts.

Language

English

Comments

iii, 73 p. Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-64)

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