Teenage Pregnancy, Motherhood and Family Life

Abstract

Because adolescence has only recently been identified as a separate phase between childhood and adulthood, childbearing accounts from teenage mothers have hitherto been inseparable from the narratives of other disadvantaged mothers. These accounts generally make for poignant reading, describing the cruel treatment of nonconformist mothers who, despite circumstances beyond their control, were shunned by society. Any discussion of contemporary teenage pregnancy is necessarily defined by reference to its antecedents and hence the need to summarise key historical events and arguments which have shaped current discourses.