Bad daughter, good mother, good student

ABSTRACT

Unmarried student mothers face challenges related to childcare, the continuation of education, and stigmatisation, which can affect their psychological health and academic work. A focus group and nine individual interviews with 10 unmarried student mothers at a South African university who had experienced an unintended pregnancy explored their student-parent dilemma and how they drew on discourses of bad daughters, good mothers and good students. Guilt and shame underpinned attempts at reparation through academic achievement. These student mothers delegitimised their own need for support and felt unworthy of support through university counselling. Support group processes might enable student mothers to integrate parent and student identities, take up opportunities of support, and facilitate student retention.

KEYWORDS:

• Unintended pregnancy
• student
• mother
• identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Mary van der Riet is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Applied Human Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She has a background in research methods and an interest in youth, sexual risk and gender.

Wendy Corfe is a counselling psychology intern at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She has a background in education and a special interest in women and children’s rights.

Cebisile Kubeka is a Counselling Psychologist and graduate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Her interests include public health research, community-based interventions, mental health care and rural health development.