Gender, race, class, and the trend toward early motherhood. A feminist analysis of teen mothers in contemporary society
Jacobs, J.L.
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 22(4): 442-462
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0891-2416 PMID: 12345519 DOI: 10.1177/089124194022004002Document Number: 284782
Interviews conducted with 45 adolescents in attendance at a Denver, Colorado, high school for teen mothers highlighted the interactions among psychological tasks, family structure, and social location. The subjects, who ranged in age from 14-19 years (mean, 16 years), were Black or Hispanic. Gender-specific developmental theory posits that teenage girls struggle to balance competing needs for autonomy on the one hand and connection and attachment on the other hand. Premarital sexual activity represents a means of both defying parental control and achieving intimacy. For the 19 largely Black subjects raised by mothers in single-parent households, mother-daughter conflict was linked to race and class oppression. Black mothers overwhelmed by multiple roles tended to be overly restrictive about dating in an attempt to protect their daughters from similar hardships, especially if they had been a teen parent. In the 21 predominantly Latino 2-parent families of origin, conflicts were more often centered around religious values and abuse by male family members. Although only 8 respondents indicated that they found sex gratifying, a sexual relationship offered the promise of a more meaningful emotional attachment. Similarly, mothering offered these girls an alternative for self-development in a social environment characterized by economic and racial oppression and an opportunity to give to a child the nurturing and caretaking they were seeking for themselves. The mothers interviewed indicated they were remaining in school not for themselves, but to become better able to support their child. A third of the teens were abandoned by their child's father when pregnancy was confirmed, but many of those who had the option of marriage preferred single parenthood. Dependency on sexual intimacy became replaced by emotional investment in the mother-child dyad. These findings suggest a need for prevention programs that offer poor women of color alternative paths to achieving adult status and autonomy through educational and career opportunities.