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ABSTRACT
The aim of this research is to analyze the cognitive, affective and cultural factors involved in adolescent motherhood among girls in residential care. Using this specific country example, the study also seeks to analyze if the influence of these factors is the same for girls in residential care and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. A semi-structured interview was conducted with 54 girls distributed across three groups: 18 girls from two residential care homes, 18 girls from a secondary school (normative group) and 18 girls from disadvantaged families. A content qualitative analysis was used. The main results show that girls in care have a positive perception on teenage motherhood, they become sexually active before other girls not in care and they are less likely to use contraceptive methods. Also their life priorities are based on motherhood and having a partner rather than career expectations. Some implications in order to prevent teenage and unplanned pregnancies are highlighted.
RESUMEN
El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar los factores cognitivos, afectivos, y culturales que inciden en la percepción que tienen las jóvenes tuteladas sobre la maternidad adolescente. El estudio pretende analizar si la influencia de estos factores es la misma para las jóvenes tuteladas que para otros grupos de jóvenes no tuteladas. Se aplicó una entrevista semiestructurada a 54 jóvenes distribuidas en 3 grupos: 18 adolescentes de dos centros residenciales, 18 adolescentes de un instituto (grupo normativo) y 18 adolescentes de familias desfavorecidas. Se realizó un análisis de contenido cualitativo. Los principales resultados muestran que las jóvenes tuteladas tienen una percepción positiva de la maternidad adolescente, inician su actividad sexual antes que las chicas no tuteladas y hacen menos uso de los métodos anticonceptivos. También sus prioridades de vida se focalizan más en la maternidad y en el tener una pareja, que en satisfacer sus expectativas profesionales. Se sugieren algunas recomendaciones e implicaciones para la práctica.
PALABRAS CLAVE:
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank study participants and the residential centers involved.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Nair Zárate Alva has a Ph.D. in Psychology and is a lecturer at the Department of Systematic and Social Pedagogy at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). She is a researcher in the IARS research group (Children and Youth in Social Risk) at the UAB. She has developed different studies on emotional intelligence and teenage motherhood.
Laura Arnau-Sabatés is an associate professor at the Department of Social Pedagogy at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). She is involved in the IARS research group (Children and Young People at Social Risk) at the UAB. Her research is focused on aspects related to transition into adulthood and specifically, on care leavers’ successful trajectories in the world of work.
Josefina Sala-Roca is a professor at the Department of Systematic and Social Pedagogy at the UniversitatAutònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the principal investigator of the IARS research group (Children and Youth in Social Risk) at the UAB. She has developed different studies regarding emotional and labor abilities of youths in care, therapeutic residential care and difficulties that youths in residential care face in their transition to adulthood, such as sociolaboral insertion, teenage motherhood and delinquency.