The Culture of Teenage Mothers

Explores teen mothers' perceptions of their situations and the social stigma that affects them. Society stigmatizes teen pregnancy, but most teenage mothers keep their babies and many regard their pregnancies as the best thing that ever happened to them. In this book, Joanna Gregson explores teen mothers'shared culture: how they perceive their situations and how they experience stigma. Drawing from four years of participant-observation research in a school-based program for parenting teens, Gregson presents the stories and voices of a group of mostly, but not exclusively, white teen mothers, a group often overlooked in the literature. She reveals a world in which teenage mothers compete with each other to show competency as parents and proclaim the virtues of teen parenting over that of women in their twenties, thirties, and forties. Gregson discusses the teen mothers'conceptions of fatherhood and how they judge their own children's fathers, including the issue of older boyfriends impregnating teenage girls. The young women's thoughts on the stigma they experience and the transformations in their lives and relationships are illuminating and important to all who care about teenage girls as well as about teenage mothers and their children. Society stigmatizes teen pregnancy, but most teenage mothers keep their babies and many regard their pregnancies as the best thing that ever happened to them. In this book, Joanna Gregson explores teen mothers' shared how they perceive their situations and how they experience stigma. Drawing from four years of participant-observation research in a school-based program for parenting teens, Gregson presents the stories and voices of a group of mostly, but not exclusively, white teen mothers, a group often overlooked in the literature. She reveals a world in which teenage mothers compete with each other to show competency as parents and proclaim the virtues of teen parenting over that of women in their twenties, thirties, and forties. Gregson discusses the teen mothers' conceptions of fatherhood and how they judge their own children's fathers, including the issue of older boyfriends impregnating teenage girls. The young women's thoughts on the stigma they experience and the transformations in their lives and relationships are illuminating and important to all who care about teenage girls as well as about teenage mothers and their children. Title Page ......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 11 1. INTRODUCTION......Page 15 2. METHODS AND SETTING......Page 29 3. GETTING PREGNANT......Page 53 4. KEEPING THE BABY......Page 71 5. COMPETITIVE PARENTING......Page 89 6. TEEN MOTHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF FATHERHOOD......Page 103 7. DEFINING, EXCUSING,AND JUSTIFYING DEVIANCE......Page 119 8. THE STIGMA OF TEENAGE PARENTING......Page 141 9. TRANSFORMED SELVES, TRANSFORMED RELATIONSHIPS......Page 153 10. CONCLUSION......Page 173 REFERENCES......Page 191 C......Page 205 F......Page 206 Q......Page 207 S......Page 208 Z......Page 209 Introduction -- Methods And Setting -- Getting Pregnant -- Keeping The Baby -- Competitive Parenting -- Teen Mothers' Conceptions Of Fatherhood -- Defining, Excusing, And Justifying Deviance : Teen Mothers' Accounts For Statutory Rape -- The Stigma Of Teenage Parenting -- Transformed Selves, Transformed Relationships : The Consequences Of Teenage Parenting -- Conclusion. Joanna Gregson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 177-190) And Index.