 “The love that I was missing”: Exploring the lived experience of motherhood among teen mothers in foster careElizabeth Aparicio, Edward V. Pecukonis and Shalita O'Neale Children and Youth Services Review, 2015, vol. 51, issue C, 44-54 Abstract: The present study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore the experiences and meaning of motherhood among teen mothers in foster care. Through a series of 18 in-depth, semi-structured interviews exploring experiences of both being mothered and mothering, the six young women in this study shared their stories of living the reality of becoming mothers under extremely challenging circumstances and doing their best to thrive. Themes of darkness and despair, (e.g., substance abuse, poverty, and child maltreatment) glimpses of light in the darkness (e.g., relationships with their partner's family), and new beginnings (e.g., identity as mother) emerged as characteristic of their experience. Implications for practice, policy, and research in the areas of teen pregnancy prevention and support for family strengthening are offered. Keywords: Teenage pregnancy; Teenage motherhood; Child maltreatment; Foster care; Interpretative phenomenological analysis; Qualitative (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:51:y:2015:i:c:p:44-54 DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.02.002 Access Statistics for this article Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier |
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