It's not all doom and gloom for teenage mothers – exploring the factors that contribute to positive outcomes

Abstract

This biographical qualitative study explored the factors that contributed to positive outcomes for 11 UK respondents who were teenage mothers. A number of adaptation strategies and protective factors were found to be contributory factors to positive outcomes in a number of areas of the respondents and their children's lives. These strategies began with a rejection of the common negative stereotypes associated with teenage pregnancy and a very strong resistance to perceiving their pregnancies as an adversity. Their strong desire to be role models for their children had given them the momentum to pursue educational and career goals, because they have someone else for whom they have responsibility. The findings strengthen the growing consensus that an early pregnancy, despite its many reported adverse consequences, can lead to positive outcomes for both mother and child in the presence of the right protective factors and adaptation strategies.

Keywords::

• teenage pregnancy
• protective factors
• adaptation strategies
• positive outcomes

Context

As a result of consistent negative discourses about teenage pregnancy in the UK, young motherhood is often viewed as problematic and undesirable. Consequently, there is a plethora of research which claims that becoming pregnant during the teenage years results in a wide array of adverse outcomes for the teenage mother and her child (Social Exclusion Unit [SEU], 1999). The persistence of these concerns is evident in the UK's National Teenage Pregnancy Strategy: Beyond 2010, p. 16 which states that:

Teenage mothers are less likely to finish their education, and are more likely to bring up their child alone and in poverty… children of teenage mothers are generally at increased risk of poverty, low educational attainment, poor housing and poor health, and have lower rates of economic activity in adult life.

Teenage mothers were also ‘significantly more likely than older mothers’ to be living on welfare benefits, experiencing unemployment, lacking in school and university qualifications and living in social housing (Wiggins et al., 2005). They were also more likely to experience stigma, moral condemnation, outrage and social exclusion (Geronimus, 2004; Lawson & Shaw, 2004; SEU, 1999; Shaw, Laylor, & Najman, 2006).

However, as Seamark and Lings (2004) argue, concerns that early motherhood limits future life chances often fail to take into account the fact that teenage mothers can overcome potential obstacles, and in some cases may even derive psychological benefits from the pregnancy. This point is increasingly illustrated by studies which provide evidence of teenage mothers coping well with the demands of motherhood (Bell et al., 2004; Duncan, Edwards, & Alexander, 2010; Phoenix, 1991; Schofield, 1994; Seamark & Lings, 2004). Furthermore, teenage motherhood can be a positive experience particularly during the latter years of adolescence (Bonell, 2004; Duncan et al., 2010; Seamark & Lings, 2004; Wiggins et al., 2005). Even for teenage mothers who had been in care ‘the birth of a child signifies a remarkable turning point’ (Barn & Mantovani, 2007, p. 239).

A variety of protective factors enabled these mothers to avoid social exclusion. These begin with the fact that the pregnancies were wanted or planned; or in some cases where the pregnancies were unplanned, they later grew to accept these pregnancies. Consequently, they enjoyed being mothers and this was instrumental in enabling them to achieve positive outcomes for themselves and their children (Alldred & David, 2010; Seamark & Lings, 2004; Wiggins et al., 2005).

Additional protective factors include good quality support from their families; having positive relationships with their partners; having jobs that they enjoyed and being provided with opportunities to improve their lives. For many, the responsibility of motherhood has increased their levels of strength and competence, and had been the momentum to change direction and consider a career (Duncan et al., 2010; Graham & McDermott, 2005; Seamark & Lings, 2004). Contrary to popular beliefs, therefore, teenage pregnancy can be a route to social inclusion, rather than exclusion (Graham & McDermott, 2005). In light of the significance of these findings to professional intervention strategies and policy developments, it is important to continue to explore the factors that promote resilience in teenage mothers.

Resilience indicates ‘the process of, capacity for, or outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances’ (Masten, Best, & Garmezy, 1990, p. 426). However, the term does not indicate a personality trait or attribute of the individual (Rutter, 2000). The ‘researcher is typically invested in identifying vulnerability and protective factors that might modify the negative effects of adverse life circumstances and, having accomplished this, in identifying mechanisms or processes that might underlie associations found’ (Luthar, 2000 cited in Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000, p. 858).

It would appear from these definitions that in order to determine the contributory factors to resilient outcomes, it is important to understand the respondents' experiences of adversity, the input of protective factors ‘that modify the effects of risk in a positive direction’ and the ability to adapt to adversity which ‘typically encompasses negative life circumstances that are known to be statistically associated to adjustment difficulties’ (Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000, p. 858). Adaption is commonly defined as social competence, or success at meeting age-related developmental tasks (Luthar & Zigler, 1991). These developmental tasks fall within three categories – academic competence, conduct or behaviour in school and interpersonal or social competence (Masten et al., 1990).

The study therefore sought to determine the respondents' experiences of adversity, as well as the adaptation strategies and protective factors that were used in achieving the developmental tasks identified above. It is within this context that the term positive outcome is used.

Methodology

In order to understand the women's perspectives on their routes to resilience, a qualitative approach is well suited to this task (Ungar, 2004). In particular, a biographical approach was used to focus on the respondents' life experiences. This involved utilising ‘individual stories… to understand lives within a social, psychological and/or historical frame’ (Merrill & West, 2009, p. 10). As the predominant discourse on teenage pregnancy centres on poor outcomes, of particular relevance to this study is the capacity and potential of a biographical approach for self-representation (Atkinson & Walmsley, 1999) and the opportunity to provide ‘counter narratives’ (Thomas, 1999) to the dominant negative teenage pregnancy discourse.

Through discussion with colleagues and professionals, potential respondents were identified. This opportunistic sampling strategy made it possible to recruit respondents where no lists or identifiable clusters (of respondents) exist (Higginbottom, 2004).

Semi-structured interviews facilitated by a ‘flexible format’ open-ended set of themes, used as a tool to facilitate dialogue and exploration (Bolton & Fitzpatrick, 1994), were conducted with respondents between 24 and 54 years of age, whose first pregnancy occurred during their teenage years and their outcomes did not comply with the predicted negative outcomes frequently described in the literature.

As the interviews were conducted after an interval of between 9(1/2) and 25 years following the first pregnancy, the respondents were able to speak with authority about the factors which enabled them to achieve positive outcomes. This point is supported by Morales (2008, p. 230), who argues that a decade provides sufficient time ‘to reflect on how their academic and professional experiences have evolved, and on the significance of intervening years’.

The interviews lasted between one and a half to two and a half hours and were digitally recorded. Despite the number of intervening years between the first pregnancy and the date of the interview, the respondents had no difficulty in recalling and recounting their experiences. This process might have been aided by the fact that in facilitating informed consent, all respondents were aware of the themes that would be discussed, prior to the interviews.

The analysis process began from the outset to ensure that interviewing and analysis, as well as the writing up of the findings, were not rigidly compartmentalised. After each interview, the digital recordings of the interviews were listened to repeatedly and notes made from this process (Bell, 2005). The themes explored during the interviews were used as the starting point for coding, categorising and clustering the data. The clustered themes were again repeatedly read to identify (a) adverse experiences, (b) adaptations strategies and (c) the protective factors (Table 1).

Table 1 Characteristics of the sample.

Age	Age at first pregnancy	Number of pregnancies during the teenage years	Current number of children	Current occupation	Educational outcomes	Ethnicity – as described by respondents	Location
39	13	3	4	Senior social worker	Undergraduate degree (first class honours)	Black British	London
24	15	1	1+currently pregnant	Family support worker/assistant psychologist	Undergraduate degree (first class honours)	Black British	London
45	19	1	2	Human Resources Manager	B. Tech National Diploma, Certificates in Personnel Development and certificates in teaching English as a foreign language	Black Caribbean	Luton
25	16	1	1	Teacher	Undergraduate degree and postgraduate certificate	Black Afro-Caribbean	London
26	13	2	4	Currently unemployed/postgraduate student	Undergraduate degree 2:2 about to embark on postgraduate studies in law	Black British	London
40	19	1	1+currently pregnant	Office worker	Undergraduate degree	Black Caribbean	London
30	18	1	1+currently pregnant	Recently completed undergraduate degree and in the process of applying for postgraduate studies	Undergraduate degree 2:1 about to embark on postgraduate diploma	Black British	London
30	15	3	4	Social worker	Undergraduate degree: 2:1	Black British	London
54	19	1	2	Social work trainer and consultant	Professional Diploma and other qualifications	Black Jamaican	London
32	17	1	1+one on the way	TV producer	Undergraduate degree 2:1	White British	London
26	14	2	3	Teacher	Undergraduate degree 2:1	White British	London

As these characteristics show, the women varied in ages, age of the first pregnancy, number of children conceived during their teenage years and occupation. However, their educational outcomes were fairly similar, though their trajectories to obtaining undergraduate degrees or higher diplomas varied, with some using Access courses to comply with admission requirements, while others gained entry through General Certificate of Education and A-level qualifications. One respondent was enrolled on a postgraduate course, while two were planning to enrol. With the exception of two respondents, their ethnicity was also similar. Seven respondents had limited further childbearing, while four respondents had repeat pregnancies during their teenage years.

Findings

Compliant with the concept of resilience, the presentation of the findings will begin with illustrations of adverse experiences in order to provide a backdrop from which adaptation strategies and protective factors can be evaluated. In keeping with a biographical approach, the biographies of the respondents will be a prominent feature of the presentation of these themes.

Adverse experiences

Parental physical abuse and neglect

Parental abuse and/or neglect were reported by six respondents. For one respondent, frequent moves and placement changes while in local authority care compounded her adverse experiences,

because of all the things that were going on in our childhood, like my mum was getting us moved from one place to another, and then we were in foster care and children's homes; we had so much conflict, so much moving.

In the case of the next respondent, following discovery of her pregnancy, her mother:

screamed and picked up the first weapon that she could find…. and started hitting me with it….it was literally anarchy, chaos; yea, she literally lost her mind.

The respondent quoted below experienced not only parental neglect, but also repeated sexual abuse after she was left in the care of a ‘stranger’ when her mother immigrated to the UK. Quite often she was only able to eat by resorting to stealing fruits and vegetables from nearby farms in and surrounding areas where she spent her early childhood years. She felt ‘completely isolated from the family’, a sense of isolation which continued when as a teenager, she joined her mother in the UK. Her only recollection of receiving some form of care was when:

one lady actually took care of me, she gave me water to bathe, food to eat and a bed to sleep in.., but I was being sexually abused at that time by her partner and by different men because of going out at night and not being supervised.

Abuse from putative fathers

Physical and verbal abuse from putative fathers was reported by seven respondents.

He was quite abusive and we kind of had a secret life. Sometimes at work I would go into the toilet and cry, because I couldn't really let anybody see. In the relationship I was quite stressed because I was always trying to avoid an argument, or not be the cause of a problem because everything was my fault.

Being in a bad relationship that was also restricting emotionally, I was down, constantly fighting a battle all the time you know.

In the case of one respondent, the violence from the putative father commenced after she made a decision to continue her education.

He became literally mad, he started stalking me, breaking my windows… and keeping me and my son hostage in this house… He was hanging around the campus and it just became harder to focus so I didn't pass that exam. I took some time out… I started at another university straight after… I thought I am not gonna let him stop me doing what I want to do… I could just go to school and leave my life behind, but it was the coming home that made everything difficult.

Experiences of loss

Previous research (Clarke, 2010) provides evidence of a link between various forms of loss and repeat teenage pregnancy, which the author termed the ‘loss factor’. Among the most common were loss following an abortion, which was against the wishes of the teenager, and loss as a result of a ‘journey of search’ for love and fulfilment. Examples of these losses were also evident from the narratives of the respondents in this study:

I became pregnant at 13 and then my mum got me to terminate it… There was a real sense of loss and I longed to have a child', that is when I became pregnant again at 15.

Following the second pregnancy, this respondent ran away from home and slept in public places in an attempt to prevent her mother forcing her to terminate the second pregnancy.

For two respondents, reactions to loss were indicative of the ‘journey of search’ which resulted in repeat pregnancies during the teenage years, as epitomised by the following quote:

it was just needing someone, wanting a family… I really craved a family and I didn't even know what a family looked like because in all honesty, there wasn't any modelling of family around me. There wasn't any normal anything so when this guy came along and said all the things that I really wanted to hear – I said yes. I want this family, he is going to go to work and that's what he offered me, so that's why.

In light of all of these adverse experiences which could have rendered the respondents vulnerable to social exclusion, what strategies were used to overcome these adversities? The next section will present the adaptation strategies and protective factors that contributed to positive outcomes.

Adaptation strategies

Role models for their children and outcomes for children

None of these pregnancies were planned. However, in keeping with previous research (Coleman & Cater, 2006; Seamark & Lings, 2004; Wiggins et al., 2005), the next quote typifies the feelings of all the respondents that these pregnancies were wanted.

A was wanted even though she wasn't planned. I see her as the greatest thing and a lot of the things that are great in my life, I can attribute to A.

The children conceived during their teenage years became the motivation for the respondents' efforts to improve their life chances. All spoke about the importance of being role models for their children. Indicative of an ‘internal locus of control’ (Rotter, 1966), which refers to an individual's belief that their actions can influence the outcomes of personal life circumstances, they spoke of their determination to show their children, particularly those who were born during their teenage years, that an early pregnancy would not define their own lives in a negative way.

I wanted to show my son that even though you go through trials, you don't have to sit in it… He gave me the strength… to get out of an abusive relationship because you see lots of things on the television where children hear, watch or see parents arguing, abuse happening in front of them. I just thought that's not happening to me, I am not having my son grow up seeing all of that, so yes he is the one that gave me all the courage and also the motivation to say I am going to do better.

I did not want to put that on my child, I didn't want my child to think I couldn't achieve anything because of her… I wouldn't want her to get to an age where she said ok I can't do this because my mum didn't.

Poor outcomes for children of teenage parents have been consistently mentioned as one of the adverse consequences of early pregnancies (Berthoud et al., 2004; Frqancesconi, 2008). However, all respondents communicated unconditional acceptance and commitment to their children. Their children were reported to be well-adjusted and progressing well in equal but different ways – academically, vocationally, socially and emotionally. There was a palpable sense of pride and joy when they spoke about their excellent relationships with their children and cited examples to illustrate and validate these claims.

She is good at school; she is becoming a right little nerd. She just goes to science club, she goes to Glee club, she goes to drama club, she is one of those active students that are involved in activities and stuff like that.

I went to parents evening and her teacher said this is one of the parents that he was most looking forward to meet because he has nothing bad to say. My child is doing well in every area. Her maths is fantastic, she concentrates in the class, and she is good at leading teams… Oh, I was just walking on cloud 9 last week.

Comparable to the findings from Seamark and Lings' (2004) study, it is noteworthy that some respondents were able to develop loving relationships with their children despite not having parallel experiences with their own parents. Martsolf and Draucker (2008) introduced the concept of ‘living the family legacy’ to indicate when abused children have inherited a legacy of adversity and poor parenting from their parents, and reproduce these practices with their own children. There was no evidence of ‘living the family legacy’ in this study. In some cases where the relationship with their own parents was poor, respondents were able to form substitute nurturing and loving relationships with other family members. Experiences of parenting were transferred in two ways: Firstly, those who had positive parenting experiences were able to mirror these experiences in raising their own children. Secondly, those who had poor parenting experiences reported that one of the driving forces behind their excellent relationships with their own children stemmed from their eagerness to ensure that these poor experiences were not mirrored in their relationships with their own children. Thus, as illustrated by the quote below, they were able to ‘reject the family legacy and create a new legacy’.

Despite experiencing rejection from her own mother, this respondent stated:

I have always said to her (daughter) I want us to have a mother and daughter relationship that I never had. So if you feel anything at all, just let me know and we will talk about it and maybe that is why she is the way she is.

Respondents, who had more than one child, also took a balanced and realistic view of their children's abilities. Differences in educational and social abilities between their children were accepted by validating the individual strengths and uniqueness of each child.

Ooh my favourite subject. I am always ranting about how good my 15 year old is, because she is the one that I had so young and nearly everyone thinks that you are gonna do so crappy and she is gonna do so crappy, and because I had to struggle with her the most, it's always lovely to go to her school progress days.

And in relation to the other children she stated:

S – is not as academically driven, she is more of a dancer. She sees a dance, she does it wonderfully, but we do say that she needs to get at least average grades. D is gifted and talented for so many different things – Art, English and science as well and she was into music. K, he does really good as well, but he is probably the electrician of the family.

Life skills

Competence in life and social skills was consistently evident in the narratives of these respondents. They showed self-awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses. They cited evidence of coping mechanisms such as stress management, decision-making and planning skills as captured by the quotes below:

Before she was born I had planned out everything, so I knew exactly what I was going to do. I had put things in place in terms of my education and school, because I knew I wanted to finish school. It wasn't even an option not to finish school, I got a tutor, I found a young mums' group that helped and supported me.

As soon as I realised I was pregnant I realised that I needed an education. It was part and parcel of it, if I had left school with no education I wasn't going anywhere and I didn't want to be socially or financially stagnant in this world as had my mother been and still is to this day. That just spelt no future if you know what I mean, so that's why'.

These respondents were also able to reflect on their adverse experiences and develop responsive strategies towards achieving positive outcomes for themselves and their children. These actions are indicative of Jew, Green, and Kroger's (1999) theory of cognitive appraisal (as cited by Morales, 2008, p. 245), which states that resilient students' response to stress are determined by enacting four steps: (a) assessing the situation, (b) processing the experience, (c) applying meaning to it and (d) integrating it into their belief system. The next theme embodies evidence of cognitive appraisal.

Ending of dysfunctional relationships with the putative fathers

These respondents spoke about the importance of striving for independence and control over their lives by improving their educational and employment prospects. This view was given added impetus because the level of support offered by putative fathers varied in terms of financial, practical or emotional support. Although some fathers provided practical and sometimes emotional support, the majority of these fathers did not provide financial support, either by virtue of the fact that they were similar in ages to the respondents and still at school or left school without qualifications, and thus limited their employment possibilities. In some cases, where they began offering sporadic financial support, this filtered out when the relationship came to an end.

None of the respondents remained in relationships with the father of the children who were conceived during their teenage years. It emerged that having appraised their relationships during or following their pregnancies, they made a decision to end the relationship, either because it became increasingly apparent that these fathers did not share their developmental ambitions, or because their physical or emotionally abusive behaviour was perceived as threatening to the respondents' and their children's well-being. These actions exemplify what has been referred to as ‘adaptive distancing’ which is a psychological process where individuals are able to remove themselves from stressful home situations in order to achieve positive goals (Chess, 1989).

I could sense that we were going in different directions and it started to become not a good environment. He was happy to just be, just get by and I wanted more. I wanted to make sure that I had at least proper qualifications, a degree and everything and what I choose to do with my life after that I don't know but I wanted more than what we had.

Rejection of current stereotypical labels

All respondents rejected the negative labels and stereotypes associated with teenage pregnancy. They felt that such labels carried connotations of welfare dependency and failure in terms of both young mothers and their children, and these connotations did not resonate with their views and visions of their own and their children's lives.

I don't think I ever saw myself as a teenage mother, no, I felt like other people saw me as that, but I never saw myself as any different to any other mother, I really didn't, and when I did eventually split up from my daughter's dad, I never really classed myself as a single parent, I don't really see myself as fitting into any box. I just do what has to be done in any situation.

Protective factors that contributed to positive outcomes

Previous research have emphasised the contributions of protective factors to positive adaptation (Morales, 2008; Schilling, 2008). In this study, a number of protective factors were in evidence. These began with the following:

The influence of parental values and expectations

Research evidence suggests that parental aspirations for a child to continue further education appears to be a protective factor that motivates young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve academically, despite experiences of adversity (Schoon, Parsons, & Sacker, 2004). Parental values emerged as a significant and influential protective factor in the adaptation strategies of eight respondents. As a result, the importance of education instilled and reinforced either by parents or grandparents was frequently referred to as having an important impact on their motivation to complete their education and pursue their career ambitions, even in the face of obstacles.

I always knew that I would continue my life. I didn't know when or how, so I wasn't worried about that,… there were times I was tired getting there but… I had no choice because I knew if I want to become something other than what I am now, this degree is the key, so that is what kept me going and knowing that my parents would be disappointed if I didn't keep going.

Motivation to work hard has been identified as a protective factor in previous studies on resilience (Morales, 2000, 2008). Closely linked to education, parents' work ethic was frequently mentioned as a contributory factor to the respondents' views about the importance of work and independence.

Working was something that was very important, it was very much something that was instilled in me, and not just men working,… my sisters were always like that, we always worked, it was our money, we did not mind sharing it, but we need to work for our money.

The next quote illustrates the importance of both work ethic and education:

because my dad would be there I remember she (mother) would do her early morning cleaning job, come back, he would go to work; she would get us off to school then she would go to college, drop us back from school, wait for my dad to get home and she would go off to do her evening cleaning job. So we saw that and they made it clear that the only way to escape the way they were living was to get an education.

Utilising supportive relationships

All respondents spoke about the role that supportive relationships in various forms played in their successful outcomes. In most instances, these relationships were among the key protective factors which facilitated their responses to the challenges that confronted them. Three respondents had received some support from teachers and an adolescent support agency.

My school was quite good. I had a really good deputy who was quite supportive, so she would send lessons home; she would send revision stuff for me. I can't really fault them for the support they gave me.

The school was very supportive. There was one teacher, I always stayed late at school so that I could do extra work and then she would drop me to the childminder after school so that I could pick up my daughter.

For the majority (seven respondents), poor relationships and, in some cases, lack of attachment to their own mothers resulted in maternal grandmothers having to play a significant role in providing emotional, financial or babysitting support to enable their granddaughters to return to education.

my grandma was just supportive, support for me because I wanted to go back to work, back to study and to make things better for myself, she straight away said that she would look after him.

Current sexual relationships

Respondents spoke candidly about their considerable efforts to reflect on the problems that they had experienced in their earlier relationships with putative fathers, to ensure that the same pattern was not repeated and any future relationships did not impact adversely on their children's development.

According to Berthoud et al. (2004, p. 4), teenage mothers ‘fare worse in the marriage market because they partner with men who are poorly qualified and more likely to suffer unemployment. This has adverse consequences for their (and their children's) standard of living in their thirties and forties’. While these respondents' initial relationships were with putative fathers who were ‘poorly qualified’, most respondents were able to go on to form mutually satisfying, stable and supportive relationships with subsequent partners. These new partners were their equals in terms of educational and employment achievements, many of whom became substitute fathers for the children conceived during the teenage years.

My relationship is very stable, I am happy, he gets on really well with K (son). My partner isn't a dominating character, so he is quite happy to let me do the parenting and he and K just have a friendship that works alongside that… He will always support, so it's working quite well right now.

He allowed me to be me, he didn't want me to change or be quieter, louder or anything like that, he just accepted everything, and when I felt like I had to explain my past to him he wasn't bothered about it, which was quite surprising because everybody seemed to be bothered about everybody's past. He said what we need to do is to look to the future and he is the first person that may have said that to me.

Discussion

The respondents' experiences of adversity, adaptation strategies, protective factors and subsequent positive outcomes undoubtedly conform to existing definitions of resilience. Within the context of the dominant discourse on teenage pregnancy, these pregnancies are viewed as adverse experiences. Although there is no doubt that these respondents had various forms of adverse experience, as we have seen from their narratives, ‘contrary to popular beliefs, psychological changes that co-occur with stress are not necessarily bad. Much can be done during stressful experiences to promote adaptive responses’ (Jamieson, Mendes, & Nock, 2013, p. 51).

Adaptation strategies

Six adaptation strategies emerged to be among the most prominent because they were common to all respondents. First, none of these respondents regretted their early pregnancies despite the fact that they were unplanned. Ironically, it is this acceptance of their pregnancies and their very strong resistance to perceiving their pregnancies as an adversity that emerged to be one of the strongest adaptive strategies that contributed to their positive outcomes. Similar to Seamark and Ling's (2004) study, for some, motherhood had provided the momentum to change direction and consider a career, because they have someone else for whom they have responsibility. For others, motherhood had fuelled their determination to continue towards their educational goals; so the extent to which we can continue to make blanket statements which are often devoid of context, about an early pregnancy as an adverse occurrence, is called into question.

Second, a number of important life skills played a vital role in their life trajectories since the first pregnancy. Some of these were acquired prior to their pregnancies and the pregnancy provided the channel to hone these skills; while others were developed as a response to their adverse experiences following their pregnancies. Chief among these skills were decision-making and reflective skills which enabled them to cognitively appraise their options, and make life-changing decisions which impacted on subsequent adaptation strategies.

The third adaptation strategy emerged from the second strategy; this was the utilisation of a process of ‘adaptive distancing’ characterised by the decision to end dysfunctional relationships that threatened to sabotage their efforts to succeed. This strategy prevented them from emerging as victims of their adverse experiences. It also impacted positively on the outcomes for their children due to their awareness of the significant risks of psychological, emotional and physical harm that could occur for their children, by exposing them to domestic violence and other adverse experiences. In addition, they were aware that parenting from depressive emotional states would result in poor parenting, and the environment in which the child is located is important to the promotion of resilience (McClure, Chacvez, Agars, Peacock, & Matosian, 2008). By distancing themselves from dysfunctional relationships, the respondents' family cohesion improved and thus enabled their children to thrive educationally, socially and emotionally.

Fourth, it was the refusal to accept the stereotypical labels that are accorded to early pregnancies; this rejection is compliant with Hurtes and Allen's (2001, p. 336) description of adaptive individuals as those who ‘have evaluated their world and made their own decisions rather than accepting someone else's rules… can identify what is appropriate moral behaviour, and have the courage to stand by their convictions’ (as cited by Schilling, 2008, p. 306). These actions, in turn, undoubtedly contributed to positive self-concept which has been reported by other studies to be a key protective factor for at-risk children (Compass, 1987; Rutter, 1987).

Fifth, it was a strong belief in the value of education, instilled and reinforced in some, but not in every case, by one or both parents and played an important role in enabling them to achieve the developmental task of ‘academic competence’. Education became a priority and the vehicle for ensuring that they and their children would not conform to existing negative conceptualisations of outcomes for pregnant teenagers. While some of these respondents initially dropped out of school following the pregnancy, their commitment to education meant that as soon as it became possible to return to education, this is precisely what they did.

Similar commitment to education was reported in Alldred and David's (2010) study of young mothers. However, while none of the respondents in that study considered education to college or degree level, all respondents in this study emphasised the importance of a college or degree level qualifications to their chosen future careers. This is a noteworthy achievement when considered against a background of earlier experiences of adversity and persistent pessimistic societal perceptions of low expectations in terms of outcomes for teenage mothers.

This finding demonstrates the infinite possibilities of educational achievement for young mothers. It reinforces the importance of educational provision with access to childcare services for teenagers who become pregnant, both during and after the pregnancy, as educational opportunities are likely to be inaccessible without childcare services, particularly for those without family support.

The sixth adaptation strategy is the strong desire to become role models for their children. These respondents were determined that their children's development would not conform to existing predictions of poor outcomes. This finding is corroborated by other studies which report that the children became the impetus for striving to improve their life situations (Duncan et al., 2010; Seamark & Lings, 2004). This determination emerged to be the most influential adaptation strategy because it was the forerunner to the development of other adaptation strategies. It became the constant and dominant factor that fuelled their determination to complete their education, because while some respondents' strong desire to complete their education and strong work ethic were derived from parental encouragement and reinforcement, this was not the case for all respondents. Similarly, while some respondents received limited support from various agencies and professionals, this did not apply to all respondents; what was common to all respondents is their commitment and aspirations for their children.

It is therefore not surprising that the children of these respondents were meeting and, in some instances, surpassing their developmental and educational milestones. This strong level of parental commitment indicates considerable room for professionals to capitalise on in the process of developing empowering working partnership with pregnant teenagers, particularly in instances where supportive family relationships are absent.

The characteristics of independence and autonomy have been associated with resilient students (Morales, 2008). In this study, the desire to be independent also emerged as a common characteristic. Their educational and career aspirations, coupled with lack of support from the putative fathers, instilled a sense of urgency to be financially independent. Consequently, there was no evidence of a culture of dependency on welfare benefits. Although two respondents were in receipt of welfare benefits at the time of the interviews, they had worked hard to ensure that they would not remain on benefits. Their reliance on benefits at the time of their interviews relates to the fact that they were preparing to embark on postgraduate studies which were necessary to obtain employment in their chosen future careers in law and teaching.

Protective factors

These respondents' ability to determine the need for support and the willingness to utilise these support structures, sometimes as a result of taking the initiative to research avenues of support and making good use of these services, is indicative of social competence which is one of the developmental tasks associated with resilience.

Various forms of support were provided by the mothers and some fathers of four respondents. However, in the case of the remaining seven respondents, grandparents played a significant role in supporting their granddaughters when their own mothers refused to support them. Grandparents have also been shown to play a major role in providing child care support to enable teenage parents to return to work or study (Fergusson, Maughan, and Golding, 2008). However, these respondents stressed that performing these tasks was not always easy for grandparents and they do need support. The support provided could be similar to the financial and emotional support provided to kinship foster carers.

In addition, though examples of professional support were relatively few, this support was often effective in complementing other supportive strategies provided by family members and friends. These actions, therefore, reinforce the need for a well-coordinated multi-agency approach to working with teenage parents to facilitate and strengthen their adaptation strategies. This also requires a two-prong approach from policy development and professionals which not only focuses on prevention, but equally on developing protective strategies which have been shown to contribute to resilient outcomes in pregnant teenagers.

Strengths and limitations of the study

At the heart of policy and much research discourse is the notion that teenage pregnancies invariably end in negative outcomes for these mothers and their children. Therefore, one of the strengths of this study was in interviewing women many years following the birth of the children conceived during their teenage years. This process facilitated the emergence of data about positive outcomes which would not have been possible had they been interviewed during the earlier years following their pregnancies.

Graham and McDermott (2005) have argued that the development of teenage pregnancy policy in the UK has relied almost exclusively on the findings from quantitative research. This has resulted in ‘failure to present more than a one-dimensional picture which is unable to capture the thoughts and feelings of teenage mothers themselves’ (Wilson & Huntington, 2005, p. 64). Thus, another strength of this and similar qualitative studies is in ‘explaining the processes involved in teenage parenting just because it allows more attention to the context and diversity – usually stripped out by extensive studies in their concentration on average measurement’ (Duncan, 2007, p. 318).

In interpreting the findings, some limitations of the study should be noted. This sample was not balanced in terms of ethnicity, as the majority of the respondents were from a Black Caribbean background. However, no discernible differences in terms of ethnicity emerged from the findings.

The relatively small sample size could also be considered a limitation in terms of generalisability. However, the aim of this study was not to strive for generalisations but to ‘uncover the heterogeneity of individual lives’ (Macvarish & Billings, 2010). In many respects the findings from this study support the findings of previous studies and also identify new contributory factors to positive outcomes for teenage mothers.

Conclusion

The experiences, responses and outcomes for these respondents bear little semblance to the persistently negative portrayal of their lives and outcomes. Compliant with other studies (Duncan et al., 2010; Seamark & Lings, 2004), the findings from this study would suggest that it is not the early pregnancy itself that is an adverse occurrence, but rather the responses to the pregnancy.

In many respects, these pregnancies provided the impetus for growth and development as the respondents developed and utilised a combination of life skills which fuelled the development of other adaptation strategies and protective factors. In addition, the respondents' own stories of how they adapted to difficult situations signify the need for professionals and policy-makers to focus on teenage mothers' strengths rather than weaknesses. This is in light of the growing understanding of the possibility and realisation of positive outcomes that can emerge as a result of support and encouragement from parents, grandparents, education, social and health care agencies.

There is, therefore, a clear indication of the need to move away from the predominant message of doom and gloom and instead re-direct the focus on developing and implementing policies and strategies to capitalise on teenage mothers' potential for growth, which an early pregnancy has been shown to trigger in the respondents' responses to their pregnancies in this and previous studies. Therefore, as Duncan (2007, p. 329) argues, ‘teenage parenting might be approached as a way through and out of disadvantage, given its positive potential, rather than a confirmation of it. It could be seen as more opportunity than catastrophe’.

Acknowledgements

With grateful thanks to friends and colleagues whose help facilitated the emergence of a sample of respondents; and to all the women who took time out of their busy schedules to tell their stories without hesitation. Without the cooperation of all of these contributors, this paper would not have been possible.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jean Clarke

Jean Clarke is a social work lecturer and examinations officer at Brunel University. Her research interests are in the areas of repeat teenage pregnancy and children and adolescents infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.