Teenage mothers’ experiences of stigma

Abstract

This article is concerned with exploring the impact of stigma upon teenage mothers. Drawing upon the findings of in-depth interviews with 20 teenage mothers, the study explores the ways and contexts within which stigma is experienced and identifies differential effects and coping mechanisms reported by the participants. Thereafter, it is suggested that, within many teenage mothers’ families of origin, there exists a value system within which young motherhood is worthy and esteemed, a tradition at odds with contemporary ideals for motherhood. The discussion then considers the disjunction between the problematical perception of teenage motherhood among policy-makers and the views of teenage mothers themselves, and goes on to suggest possible implications of such contradictions for New Labour's social policy interventions into the lives of young people.

Keywords:

• young adulthood
• parenthood
• lifestyles
• exclusion
• attitudes

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the support services who assisted in recruiting the participants, and the participants themselves for enabling valuable insights into the lived experiences of teenage mothers.

Notes

1. Little Britain is a BBC comedy sketch show, which features the character ‘Vicky Pollard’. This character embodies the negative elements of the teenage mother stereotype: irresponsible mothering, benefit dependency, lack of aspiration, and promiscuity.