Teenage Parenting

The wide interindividual variability of the outcome of the mother-child couple after birth is well known. The stereotype of the 'single unwed mother' with no qualifications and no resources who is inclined to abandon her child needs to be reevaluated. Several studies clearly showed that, when adequately supported during this difficult period, the adolescent mother or young family is perfectly capable of having a good parental attitude.

The birth of the child establishes his direct progenitors as parents, who, as such, have rights and responsibilities. Because in some cultures fathering a child is evidence of virility, the young men impregnating adolescent girls may be more likely to be involved in other activities, such as fighting and carrying weapons or gang membership, that also symbolize virility. In this social context, it is thought that 'getting a girl pregnant proves that you are a man'.

In terms of parenting, adolescent mothers have been described as being more strict, punitive and physically aggressive, and less interactive with their children.

Teenage fathers are rarely a strong source of financial support for their adolescent partners and their children: 50% of teenage fathers live with their partner and child for some time after the birth but the divorce rate among adolescent mothers is high.

The child also has rights defined by the International Convention of the Child, ratified in 1989: the right to protection of his identity and his integrity.

The most important consideration at birth for the future of the mother and the child is the way the mother-child bond develops. These mothers, who are still steeped in adolescence, are by all accounts rather skilled with their babies, but their investment in this task can prove rather unstable. They often have a good ability to play with the infant but are stricter than other mothers in their convictions: 'he's hungry', 'he must sleep', etc. In this sense, which readily reminds one of a child playing with a doll, she cuddles and hugs then forgets the 'toy' in a corner only to pick it up again several hours later. The adolescent mother considers her child as her confidant and her comforter but also as her scapegoat, responsible for all her problems. One sees here the rising contradiction between the logic of the teenager, on the one hand, and that of the child, on the other. And, in this climate of contradictions, underlying suffering can come to the surface.

It is thus essential to assure that the adolescent can be adequately assisted to assume her role as mother without the helper usurping it. Too often these young mothers are watched over and judged rather than helped to pursue their dual itinerary: their uncompleted adolescence and their too early entry into the process of parenting.

Good performance in school before the pregnancy and the return to school after the baby's birth are factors of good prognosis and constitute an essential element to the success of future familial and social function.