Introducing the Teenagers and their Significant Others

Abstract

Alys was aged 15 at recruitment and 20 weeks pregnant with her first baby boy (Aled) who weighed 81b (3.6kg) at birth; he was formula-fed. For the duration of the study period Alys lived in the family home with her widowed mother (Angharad), two older brothers and the family’s elderly dog; her eldest brother lived locally with his girlfriend. They were a close-knit bilingual (Welsh-English) family; the household income was benefit derived and the home rented from the council. Alys’s father had died suddenly 18 months prior to her becoming pregnant, and although she had been doing well at school and was expected to go on to higher education, Alys lost interest in her studies and began truanting; she left school without completing her final year. Alys smoked and occasionally drank alcohol but had never experimented with ‘recreational’ drugs. Her boyfriend Dave (19 years) lived in rented accommodation 20 miles away, close to the factory where he worked full-time. The young couple spent weekends together and were saving to buy their own home. Angharad assisted her daughter with childcare, especially at weekends; Alys wanted to become a physiotherapist and intended to resume her studies as soon as Aled started nursery. Alys and Angharad contributed two joint interviews to the study: one prior to birth and another when the baby was two years old.