Former Teenage Mothers: Challenging “Your Life Is Over” Discourse and Showcasing Strengths

Journal Publication ResearchOnline@JCU
Hamley, Jemma
Jemma Hamley
Abstract

In past decades, teenage motherhood has attracted discrimination and stigma and was considered to breach accepted life transitions and societal norms. This article presents findings from a PhD project that explored participants’ reflections of their personal transitions and mothering journeys in the years and decades after becoming teenage mothers. The researcher employed a qualitative, biographical approach guided by feminist standpoint theory and constructivist grounded theory. In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 Australian women who gave birth as teenagers, and whose eldest child had reached adulthood. A majority of women interviewed perceived that family and friends viewed their lives and prospects as being over due to their adolescent pregnancy. However, findings reveal that while participants experienced stigma, many discussed teenage motherhood as a positive aspect of their life trajectories, and they wanted this counter story to be heard. Findings present unique accounts of the potential impacts on teenage mothers of deficit thinking and labelling. Further, findings provide a platform for former adolescent mothers to assert their own maternal identities and prospects, and provide insights that can inform social work practice. IMPLICATIONS - Experiences of stigma can compound the inequalities experienced by some teenage mothers. - Challenging stigma is a critical step towards promoting social justice and positive mothering identities for teenage mothers. - Social workers can play a key role in upholding important messages that challenge an enduring deficit discourse about teenage mothers.

Journal

Australian Social Work

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Australian Social Work

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ISBN/ISSN

0312-407X

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Pages Count

13

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Publisher

Taylor & Francis

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DOI

10.1080/0312407X.2025.2498947