From teen rebel to good mother: young women's experiences of motherhood in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis examines young women's narratives about their journey to motherhood. The majority of the research that has investigated adolescent pregnancy and parenting has been undertaken from a positivist scientific paradigm. This thesis adds to a small body of revisionist research that seeks to challenge the dominant positivist conclusion that adolescent motherhood is deviant and problematic. This thesis employs qualitative research methodology and is grounded in a feminist post-structural paradigm. This methodology was utilised to gather young women's own narratives about adolescent motherhood. A pilot study was undertaken in which seven young women participated in a focus group. The data that resulted from this focus group lead to the development of an interview schedule that provided the foundation for the main study. The main study was conducted over a week and took place in a school that offered a Teen Parent Centre for adolescent parents. In this study, eight young women aged between 16 and 22 years participated in semi-structured individual interviews. The narratives that were constructed during the individual interviews underwent a rigorous combination of narrative analysis, discourse analysis and Foucaudian discourse analysis. These analyses were employed to identify the language mobilised, the function of this language and subjective position that these narratives offered the young women. In general the discourse employed in the young women's narratives functioned to justify and warrant their decision to become young mothers. Additionally, the language was utilised to challenge negative discourses that tell of adolescent mothers deviance and problems. The theme of transformation dominated the analyses as the young women's narratives constructed the changes they experienced. The narrative ingredients of time, plot, setting and character development featured strongly across all young women's narratives as stories progressed through adolescence, pregnancy, decision-making and motherhood. Additionally, the young women's narratives constructed the journey undertaken by their partners and parents as their significant companions. Associated with the theme of transformation the discourses mobilised by the young women changed from teen rebel to good mother, unmotivated schoolgirl to motivated young women and irresponsible adolescent to responsible adult. A significant feature in the young women's narratives was the change in the way the young women constructed education across time, from abandoning education during adolescence to embracing it as young mothers. A thorough discussion of these findings is undertaken regarding the context of the current research, the young women's realignment to the ideal developmental life course and the implications for supporting Teen Parent Centres within New Zealand. Limitations of the current research and ideas for future research also are proposed in the final chapter.