Abstract
Teenage mothering poses several challenges to the young mother and the family to cope with new mothering and learning demands. The chapter aims to describe the impact of negative parental relationships on learning among teenage mothers. To enhance constructive inclusion of the voices of teenage mothers, the study used action research through a community engagement approach. The study was guided by Bricolage's theoretical framework. Data was generated through multiple methods such as face-to-face individual interviews, focused group discussions, and reflections. Twelve Black teenage mothers from a rural village participated in the study. Data were analysed using critical discourse analysis and thematic analysis. Findings were that teenage mothers felt marginalized and isolated from other family members which led to unhealthy choices like self-isolation, family exclusions, and poor learning interest. Through action research, relationship healing occurred resulting in teenage mothers gaining self-awareness, and goal-setting.
TopIntroduction And Background
Globally, teenage mothering has been a concern for decades. The governments have employed strategies to prevent teenage pregnancy and designed measures and strategies to support teenagers or unmarried parenting adolescents (Chung, Kim & Lee, 2018; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) et al., 2019). The increasing teenage mothering incidences have gained attention with intentions to minimize the life-long negative impacts that lead to a vicious circle of poverty, hunger, and poor health outcomes (Ahinkorah et al., 2021; Nhampoca, & Maritz, 2022). Globally, low and middle-income countries (LMIC) account for one-third of childbirths among females younger than 19 years of age (United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 2022).
Amid the reported progress in the global decline of adolescent birth rates, the regions staggering behind are the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with the 2021 global highest rates at 101 and 53.2 births per 1000 women, respectively (World Health Organization, 2022; United Nations (UN), 2022). Top in the adolescent birth rates are Niger (73%), Mozambique (67%) and the Central African Republic (66) (UNFPA, 2022). Amid COVID-19 lockdowns, the Gauteng Province of South Africa reported 23 000 live births from teenage mothers in one year, and the youngest birth was from a 10-year-old child (Bhengu, 2021). Similarly, in Kenya COVID-19 lockdowns wiped off the decades of government efforts to curb teenage pregnancy where it was reported that 3964 girls from Machakos County were reported to be pregnant within five months of the lockdown (Wadekar, 2020). It is worrisome that studies report that adolescents who give birth between 14 and 17 years get a second or third child before reaching the adult stage (UNFPA, 2022). This report must be taken seriously by enforcing intervention strategies that improve educational and economic outcomes if countries are to ensure Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): eradicate hunger, and poverty; enhance gender equality and reduce inequality; good health and well-being; and peace, justice and sustainable institutions (UN, 2022). There are proven reports that there are teenage mothers who have achieved a good education (master’s and doctoral degrees) and economic outcomes, and are occupying various positions in many industries (Benitez, 2017).
A plethora of scholars have reported various circumstances faced by teenage mothers during learning and mothering. Amid the known challenges are poor body responses to pregnancy and giving birth, educational and socio-economic outcomes such as premature school living and early and forced marriages (Dadras & Nakayama, 2021; Wado, Sully & Mumah, 2019), difficulty or lack of opportunities for decent jobs, and limited political opportunities such as leadership in various sectors (Chung et al., 2018). Moreover, the rapid transition from puberty to adulthood with added responsibilities of parenting among teenage mothers requires support and guidance from parents, teachers, and other stakeholders for positive educational achievement (Adams, Wiium & Abubakar, 2019; Groves et al., 2022; Singh, Siddiqi, Parameshwar, & Chandra-Mouli, 2019). The most recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has escalated the challenges faced by teenage mothers when countries had to enforce lockdowns resulting in an emergency shift from traditional classroom-based teaching to online teaching and learning methods (Masuku, 2021; UNFPA, 2022; UNICEF, 2020). Teenage mothers were subjected to further marginalization when they had to balance learning and child-raring when crèches were closed (UN, 2022). A systematic review conducted among ten sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries (2008-2016) revealed that there are more adolescent mothers than non-parenting ones in those countries and most of them did not return to school (Groves et al., 2022). Even though the numbers cannot be regarded as representing all countries within the SSA, this finding calls for attention to be given to improve both socioeconomic and health outcomes.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Teenage Mother: A female aged 10-19 years who is pregnant or has given birth.
Self-Esteem: The ability to one’s self-value.
Educational Outcomes: Learning grades which are awarded after a formal assessment at a registered learning institution.
Parental Support: Is the parental or guardian’s provision of life’s physical, educational, psychological, emotional, and all material needs by their children.
Personal Agency: The person’s ability to aspire self to succeed despite challenges or difficulties.
Social Justice: This is the act of distributing or availing social assets to everyone regardless of age, race, ethnic group, social position and class.