A post hoc study of young motherhood

The purpose of this study was a phenomenological description of the experience of young women who became teenage mothers and went on to complete their high school education. Using the dialogic interview, six women were asked to talk about the experience of being pregnant and being a mother while they were in school. Thenarratives, though different in content, were rich in detail and depth and revealed a structure consistent across all interviews.The method of analysis in phenomenological studies is the hermeneutic circle. In This tradition, data was analyzed with my major professor, an interpretive group, and a fellow group member. The thematic structure that emerged describes the essence of the experience of young motherhood.In the context of time and others, themes of irresponsibility-responsibility,different-same, rejection-acceptance, and loss-accomplishment describe a difficult, day today struggle to care for a child, work, and attend school. Teenage mothers prevailed over rejection and loss to accomplish their goals—to make a life for themselves and theirchildren.These women add to the existing literature a description of successful teen motherhood, an experience they say was anything but easy. In fact, they recommendteenagers wait to become parents. These findings and others are discussed in relation to parenting, education and research endeavors.