Experiences and Circumstances Contributing to the Crisis of Teenage Pregnancy - Essay Example

From the Perspective of Young Moms: An Exploratory Study of Experiences and Circumstances Contributing to the Crisis of Teenage Pregnancy Outline Title Aim Definition of Key Terms Background of the Study Review of Related Literature Theory Methodology Aims and objectives Sample and design Methods Analysis plans Ethics Timetable Dissemination References Title: From the Perspective of Young Moms: An Exploratory Study of Experiences and Circumstances Contributing to the Crisis of Teenage Pregnancy Aims: The primary objective of this research investigation is to explore the experiences and circumstances which contribute to the crisis experienced by pregnant teens since being pregnant at their age is highly unacceptable, discriminated, stigmatised and considered deviant in the society. Definition of Key terms: Teenage pregnancy (pregnant teen) – this is limited only among those girls who are or were 13 to 19 years old when they experienced their pregnancies. Discrimination (discriminate) – it is the prejudicial treatment of individual among the pregnant teens which involves how the others actually behave on these girls because of being pregnant at their age. Stigma (stigmatised) – this is the severe disapproval and criticism over the teenagers who are currently experiencing pregnancy. Deviance (deviant) – this is the actions, behaviours or characteristics that violate the normative standards of society. Background of the Study Due to the growing numbers of teenagers who untimely become parents, many researches were conducted regarding teenage pregnancy (Colleta, 1981; Barth and Schinke, 1984; Crockenberg, 1987; Whitehead, 1994; Kelly, 1997; Cater and Coleman, 2006). According to Teenage Pregnancy Associates (2011: 1), despite the case that the teenage pregnancy rate in United Kingdom decreased about 18 percent since 1998, England still had the highest rate accumulating a total of 35,966 conceptions under 18 years old in 2009. It is the case that the society in which we live in highly discriminates and stigmatises teenage pregnancy. There are different ‘imaginative measures’ to make teenage motherhood look nasty, disagreeable and immoral, thus ‘uglifying’ teenage pregnancy (Whitehead, 1994: 55 – 81). Girls who have been pregnant at an early age are labelled as sluts, ho, promiscuous, ignorant, incompetent, irresponsible, and so on (Kelly, 1997: 165 – 180). In this case, these young girls are stigmatized for being young moms. However, this concern is not just personal but also with the trend, the society is also alarmed. Different institutions like government, economy, education, church, and most specially, the institution of the family have been upset with the numbers young mothers. Basically, the reason that has pushed me to investigate this research topic regarding teenage pregnancy is because of how our society views these pregnant teens as well as the teenage moms. Thus, the necessity to conduct an exploratory study of the experienced and circumstances contributing to the crisis of teenage pregnancy can be backed – up by the current situation of our society in relation to the issues on teenage pregnancy. However, in this study, instead of looking from the perspective of society, this will examine the perspective of the young moms. The question of who will be the beneficiaries of this academic endeavor is not only the pregnant teens and teenage moms but the society as a whole because as the stories of these girls are told through this study, the society can revolutionise the images that they have in mind regarding teenage pregnancy. Review of Related Literature One among the characteristics of a woman as emphasised in femininity is motherhood. This is in fact supported by Chodorow (1978: 11) when she stated that mothering is a central role among women because the role of a woman as a mother has an enormous impact in motherhood. The absence of women puts at stake the social reproduction of mothering. It is the case that the biological destiny of a woman to bear, deliver, nurse and rear the children (Jacobson, 1950: 140). Nonetheless, mothering is not always good for in some cases, there is this called bad mothering. For Chodorow (1978: 77 – 89), extreme selflessness is a feature of good mothering because an ideal mother has no interests of her own. She must understand what family, child – rearing and family mean. To be a mother means great responsibility to her family as well as to the society. Marriage is important to a mother because being a mother necessarily needs to show her passivity, subordination and dependence to her husband. Such unequal gender role assumptions in married life form the ideals of mothering. Malinowski (1960: 35) stated that there should be no child brought in a world without a man to be looked at as his or her father because it is the most moral and legal rule of the physiological side of relatedness. In this case, there is no room for conceiving a child without marriage because the only acceptable case is that of within the context of marriage. In this regard, those women who are currently experiencing or have experienced pregnancy outside the context of marriage suffered from different stigma of that sort which includes disgrace, humiliation as well as isolation. It could be for this reason why teenage pregnancy is not accepted in our society. This is because marriage is an important element in conceiving a child. Given this, Whitehead (1994: 55 – 81) testified how unacceptable teenage motherhood is in the society through various ‘imaginative measures’ that make motherhood among teenagers appear disgusting, worrying, disagreeable and morally wrong. In short, such measures ‘uglify’ teenage pregnancy. In 1997, Kelly conducted an ethnographic study whose data were drawn from a larger ethnographic project called “School Responses to Teenage Pregnancy and Motherhood.” In her study focusing on the experiences of 10 teen mothers, what these girls have in common despite the differences of their situations is that they all feel stigmatised. Such prejudices have originated from their own family, set of friends, strangers and sometimes, even the fathers of their babies. Indeed, the hardship of such dispelling stereotypes surrounding teenage motherhood is recognised. It is suggested that the stereotypes on teenage moms have signified numerous stigmatised yet inconsistent meanings. Some of the stereotypes attached to the teenage motherhood are that they were love – starved, emotionally unbalanced, promiscuous, ignorant, selfish, lazy, welfare – dependent, childish, neglectful, victimized by abuse or poverty, inappropriate, incompetent, lacking in self – control, irresponsible, and so on. These teen moms were associated to ‘Ho,’ a slung for whore, to indicate the sexual stereotype associated to them. Despite the fact that it is her boyfriend who had impregnated her, one of the teenage mothers suffered from having her child denied and was even told of being a slut, for committing an abortion once in the past. Meanwhile, the other teenage mom had suffered the stereotype of being promiscuous and slut because of engaging in multiple sex partners and had two fathers of her babies. Nonetheless, those judgments are not relevant for every teenager who had been pregnant out of wedlock. In fact, some of them had steady nature of relationship while some had been failed by the birth control method they used. Teenage mothers claimed that they were not the stereotype. It was not appropriate to have these generalizations about them since they were so much different in many ways. These women had particular situations that had brought them to the early pregnancy. Negative statements about them were based on their age, marital status, breastfeeding in public, welfare status, and knowledge of birth control. It also suggested the stereotype of teenage moms’ likelihood of being child abusers and negligence (Kelly, 1997: 165 – 180). In a study entitled ‘Competitive Parenting: The Culture of Teen Mothers,’ Higginson (1998) had conducted a participant – observation in a parenting program in a Teen Center which serves pregnant and parenting teens from the local schools. According to Higginson (1998: 136 - 137), only a few mothers openly acknowledged the feeling of competition in teen parenting culture. However, the persistence of competition was witnessed in the teen parents’ comparison with the other teen parents as well as the other parents who had children later in life. Teen parents strengthen their own accomplishments as they point out the negative qualities of other parents. On the one hand, Kelly (1997: 180) argues that parenting as experienced by a teenage mother is a challenging yet a positive experience. This is for the reason that their babies contribute to their personal growth such as maturity, stability, assertiveness, sensitivity and patience. Also, it has improved their relationships with their family members. Theoretical Framework: Stigma Ervin Goffman (1963) conceptualised Stigma. For him, stigma is any condition, situation or aspect that is extremely dishonouring in a particular way. It impacts an identity of an individual because of the negative feedbacks, impressions, stereotypes, discrimination, ostracism as well as withdrawal of support. Given this, an individual that is stigmatised will be rejected rather than be accepted. It is in this case that stigmatised individual has to deal with their “spoiled identity.” Because of stigma, an individual is disqualified from full acceptance in the society. This is for the reason that he or she does not belong to the group of normal individuals at all. Nonetheless, for him, stigma is not an inherent characteristic of an individual but is dependent on the particular experience of an individual in which he or she feels and experiences what it means to be different. Stigma is an exceptional sort of gap between the virtual social identity and the actual social identity. That is to say, there is an existing gap between the individual’s assumed demands and personality as well as his or her own character and features. Such means of categorising persons, attributing different attributes on them, and discriminating them are mechanism of society in order to uphold the order in society. This is a way of telling its individuals that they are already deviating from the normative expectations of society. Methodology The qualitative research is most convenient and suitable for inquiries into subjective issues and interpersonal relations. Lincoln (1995: 270 – 280) suggested that qualitative research generally meant collection and analysis of material which aim to uncover the meaning so that a particular experience can be understood. Qualitative approach will be applied in this research study since this is based on a position which tries to interpret, understand, clarify and explain a social phenomenon. Through using a qualitative paradigm, this research can yield rich information that can account for the topic on teenage pregnancy. According to Stanley and Wise (1993: 6), qualitative approaches take in techniques that ascribe to the idea that a researcher first observes, explore and then explain the situation of group of people being studied. In this case, the researcher must be an active agent in the attempt to reflect a social reality. Meanwhile, qualitative research shall be employed in the conduct of this study because of the sensitivity of the topic on teenage pregnancy. Some parts of their private lives will be uncovered upon interviewing them. a) Aims and objectives: The primary objective of this research investigation is to explore the experiences and circumstances which contribute to the crisis experienced by pregnant teens since being pregnant at their age is highly unacceptable, discriminated, stigmatised and considered deviant in the society. Specifically, this aims at the following: to know the performance of pregnant teens at school; to understand the personal experiences which make their teenage pregnancy in crisis; to determine the identity and images that the pregnant teens have; to identify the impact of stigma among the pregnant teens; to know the relationship of the pregnant teens to the father of their babies; to know the relationship of the pregnant teens to their respective families; to evaluate if poor parental supervision a factor of pregnancy among teens; and to find out what the pregnant teens feel regarding the issues on parenting. Given these objectives, qualitative approach best suits this study given the sensitivity of the topic under study. b) Sample and design A total of 10 teenage mothers shall be the target respondents of this study in which teenage mothers will be defined as those girls who are or were 13 to 19 years old when they experienced their pregnancies. However, at present, they should be on their teenage years or early 20s. The preference of this age range is to ensure that the respondent is still a young mom given that the older moms have different perspective from the younger ones. Also, there will be no specifications on the civil status of the respondents. The teenage mothers are chosen instead of those teens who are currently experiencing their pregnancies because of the possible harm (i.e. emotional and psychological) that the interview can give them. This is because interviewing them may just add up to the stress they are currently experiencing. Also, it is the case that pregnant women are more emotional than those who are not. c) Methods As a data gathering technique, interview method is defined by Frey and Oishi (1995: 1) as a persistent conversation in which the interviewer asks questions while the respondent answers them. This has been chosen based on some ethical considerations. In a study that is conducted in a span of 6 months, the interview method is the most suitable data gathering technique given the time constraint. Also, given the high sensitivity of the topic regarding experiences and circumstances of teenage pregnancy, the respondents’ personal life experiences are disclosed. In their sharing and revealing their private lives, conducting an interview (open – ended) is the most appropriate technique since it gives a more comprehensive, richer and deeper (Wimmer & Dominick, 1997: 139). Also, an interview between the researcher and the respondent is giving the interviewee a more comfortable and relaxed position in disclosing her personal life since nobody is listening but the researcher. The presence of an audience may have hindered the respondent in her disclosure of her experiences. d) Analysis plan The data of this study will be analysed through comparing and contrasting the individual experiences of teenage moms in order to find out the commonalities as well as differences of their teenage pregnancy and motherhood. Aside from this, their particular experiences will be also examined through the existing literatures. Lastly, the will-be-gathered data will be analysed within the theory that frames this study. Ethics There are a lot of ethical considerations to be taken into account in the conduct of this study. Given the sensitivity of the topic, according to Faden and Beauchamp (1986), the interviews will be conducted only with the permission of the respondents to be a part of this research investigation through signing the informed consent. Any withdrawal of the respondent’s participation is granted and is not force the respondent to join if she does not want to. In addition to that, their identities will be kept in strict confidence. They will be named through using pseudonyms in the presentation of findings of this research. Also, interviews will only be recorded with the consent of respondent. In the parts of the interview where the respondents have been too sensitive and emotional, the recorder will be turned off to give the private space of the respondents. Moreover, any research that would not benefit the respondents is unethical. This research study has generated the knowledge from the teenage moms in order to give them in return liberation, emancipation, as well as the improvement of their lives. Also, this academic research aims to make these women be understood by our society so that the stigma attached on them can be possibly stopped. Timetable Project Stages Duration Proposal review and approval 1 month Research of other supplemental information for the project (writing some parts of the paper) Set – up: preparation of discussion guide or unstructured interview questionnaire other interview materials Recruitment or searching for respondents, scheduling of interviews 2 months Fieldwork Analysis of data 1 month Writing of the research project 1 month Revision of final paper 1 month Dissemination The finding of this study is linked to deviance and gender studies. This is expected to contribute supplementary knowledge on the said areas. This academic endeavor can also inspire the lives of women who are in the same situation and contribute to women empowerment. Thus, aside from women, it is not only different non – organisational institutions, social works and support systems but the society as a whole. References: Barth, R. P., & Schinke, S. P. 1984. Enhancing the social supports of teenage mothers. Social Casework: The Journal of Contemporary Social Work 65. 523-531. Carter, S. & Coleman, S. 2006. ‘Planned’ teenage pregnancy: perspectives of young parents from disadvantageous backgrounds. The Polity Press. Chodorow, Nancy (1978). The Reproduction of Mothering: Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender. Berkeley: University of California Colletta, N. D. 1981. Social support and the risk of maternal rejection by adolescent mothers. The Journal of Psychology 109. 191-197 Crockenberg, S. 1987. Predictors and correlates of anger toward and punitive control of toddlers by adolescent mothers. Child Development 58. 964-975 Faden, R. R., & Beauchamp T. L. 1986. A history and theory of informed consent. New York: Oxford University Press Frey, J.H & .Oishi, S.M. 1995. How to conduct interviews by telephone and in person. London: Sage. Goffman, E. 1963. Stigma: notes on the management of spoiled identity. Prentice-Hall. Higginson, J.G. 1998. Competitive parenting: The culture of teen mothers. Journal of Marriage and Family 60 (1): 135-149 Kelly, D. M. 1997. Warning labels: stigma and the popularizing of teen mothers’ stories. Curriculum Inquiry 27(2). 165 – 186. Jacobson, E. 1950. Development of a wish for a Child in boys. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 5: 139 – 152. Lincoln, Y. S. 1995. Emerging criteria for quality in qualitative and interpretative research. Qualitative Inquiry 1: 275 -289 Malinowski, B. 1960. Parenthood – the basis of social structure.” In Roberts, R.W. The unwed mother. New York and London: Harper and Row Publishers, pp. 25 – 60. Stanley, L. & Wise, S. 1993. Breaking out again: Feminist ontology and epistemology. New York. Wimmer, R. D. & Joseph.R.D. 1997. Mass media research: an introduction. Belmont, MA: Wadsworth. Whitehead, B. D. 1994. The failure of sex education. Atlantic Monthly 55-81. Teenage Pregnancy Associates. 2011. Teenage pregnancy: the evidence. London, U.K. Read More