Teenage Pregnancy: A Mother’s Perspective

Abstract

Teenage pregnancy is a global problem. It confronted all levels of societal status from low, middle to high-income nations. The current paper provides an exploration of the mothers that come across the stage of teenage pregnancy. This provides narratives of the causes, challenges encountered, and their regrets by mothers that come across teenage pregnancy. A qualitative method of research was used in this study. The narrative - case study design was utilized in this methodology. It includes 10 participants and data were gathered through the use of a semi-structured interview schedule. The following were the study's significant findings: The majority of the participants were at the age of 21 and got pregnant at the age of 16 – 19. Most of them were first-year college students when they got pregnant, unmarried, unemployed, and therefore dependent on their parent's income. Participants’ narratives revealed that they got pregnant at an early age because of the individual willingness of having sex with their boyfriend, socialization with their friends, and family influences. It is significantly shown in their narratives that the challenges they encountered in childbearing/raising were financial shortcomings, acceptance of the community, and their marital relationship. Their pregnancy greatly affects their studies resulting in dropping out of school. Participants confronted emotional stress during their pregnancy. Participants commonly narrated that they regretted most finishing their schooling and seeking a quality job.