Navigating young motherhood: a retrospective study into the reflections of the teenage motherhood experience by mothers within a community of the Western Cape
| dc.contributor.advisor | Kruger, Lou-Marié | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Boshoff, Sinead Madelyn | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.other | Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology. | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-11-14T10:16:06Z | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-01-16T12:48:53Z | en_ZA |
| dc.date.available | 2022-11-14T10:16:06Z | en_ZA |
| dc.date.available | 2023-01-16T12:48:53Z | en_ZA |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-11-14 | en_ZA |
| dc.description | Thesis (MA) -- Stellenbosch University, 2022. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The current study is situated within the overarching research area of maternal mental health. Sixteen to eighteen years prior, a larger study known as the Women’s Mental Health Research Project (WMHRP) was undertaken from 2002 to 2006. The current study aimed to follow up with a subset of the sample who were classified as teenage mothers. Therefore, this follow-up study explored the subjective experience of young motherhood over time as reflected upon by one group of low-income South African women. The first-hand experiences of young mothers have specifically been of marked interest in recent years. The literature comprises of various studies exploring topics such as the joys and challenges of motherhood, stigmatization, and social support. This has led to increased efforts to incorporate women’s voices into the literature and the development of a more optimistic outlook regarding life outcomes. However, the literature exploring this outlook remains fractured at present. Few retrospective studies which explore the experience of young motherhood in low-income women from the perspective of mothers themselves have been conducted in South Africa and as it stands, very few specific to the Western Cape. The current retrospective study was informed by social constructionist feminism and is of a qualitative nature. All participants resided within a semi-rural community encountering various social and economic vulnerabilities. The sample comprised of 7 participants, of whom one individual’s interview could not be used owing to technical difficulties. Data collection was carried out by administering interviews, which were then transcribed and analysed according to the social constructionist grounded theory method. The chief categories which emerged from the data included motherhood over time: participants’ narratives at present, practical concerns and challenges, emotional experience of motherhood, coping, and the meaning of motherhood. These categories represent the challenges impacting upon young women’s transition to motherhood as well as the range of emotional experiences from joy and struggle to the deeper meanings realised when reflecting on motherhood over time. Our findings suggest that a tension exists at the core of the women’s narrative which is a result of and displays the multiplicity of the human experience in the context of a life experience as complex as teenage pregnancy. Motherhood, particularly young motherhood as it progresses over time, is broadly characterized by both joy and struggle. Rather than occurring in isolation and as a linear progression from one to the other, women interchange and hold space for a range of - sometimes conflicting - emotions, which results in this held tension. The findings of this study were not entirely novel in that the tangible difficulties of young motherhood have been addressed in previous studies of a similar nature. However, this study provided insight from a unique perspective compared to most research exploring teenage pregnancy in South Africa, by investigating the subjective experience of young motherhood of the same women over time within a qualitative paradigm. Due to the multifaceted, complex nature of young motherhood, the exploration of the experience of motherhood from women’s perspective can be expanded beyond the scope of this study. A multi-layered narrative within which there remains more to be discovered was revealed through this research. Limitations specific to the current study and recommendations for future research were considered. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Die huidige studie is geleë binne die oorkoepelende navorsingsarea van die geestesgesondheid van moeders. Sestien tot agtien jaar tevore is 'n groter studie bekend as die Women's Mental Health Research Project (WMHRP) onderneem. Die huidige studie het ten doel gehad om 'n subset van hierdie steekproef wat as tienermoeders geklassifiseer is, op te volg. Daarom het hierdie opvolgstudie die subjektiewe ervaring van jong moederskap oortyd ondersoek soos weerspieël deur een groep lae-inkomste Suid-Afrikaanse vroue. Die eerstehands ervarings van spesifiek jong moeders was die afgelope jare van groot belang. Die literatuur bestaan uit verskeie studies wat onderwerpe soos die vreugdes en uitdagings van moederskap, stigmatisering en sosiale ondersteuning ondersoek. Dit het gelei tot verhoogde pogings om vroue se eie stemme in die literatuur te inkorporeer en die ontwikkeling van 'n meer optimistiese uitkyk op lewensuitkomste. Die literatuur wat hierdie vooruitsigte ondersoek, bly egter tans gebroke. Min retrospektiewe studies wat die ervaring van jong moederskap by lae-inkomstevroue vanuit die perspektief van moeders self ondersoek, is in Suid-Afrika uitgevoer en soos dit staan, baie min spesifiek vir die Wes-Kaap. Die huidige retrospektiewe studie is deur sosiaal-konstruksionistiese feminisme ingelig en is van 'n kwalitatiewe aard. Alle deelnemers het in 'n semi-landelike gemeenskap met verskeie sosiale en ekonomiese kwesbaarhede gewoon. Die steekproef het uit sewe deelnemers bestaan, van wie een individu se onderhoud nie gebruik kon word nie weens tegniese probleme. Data-insameling was uitgevoer deur die geadministrering van onderhoude wat daarna getranskribeer en volgens die sosiaal-konstruksionistiese gegronde teorie-metode geanaliseer was. Die hoofkategorieë wat uit die data na vore gekom het, sluit moederskap oor tyd, praktiese bekommernisse en uitdagings, emosionele ervaring van moederskap, hantering en die betekenis van moederskap in. Hierdie kategorieë verteenwoordig die uitdagings wat 'n impak op vroue se oorgang na moederskap het sowel as die reeks emosionele ervarings van vreugde en stryd tot die dieper betekenisse wat besef word wanneer daar oor moederskap besin word oor tyd. Ons bevindinge dui daarop dat ń spanning in die kern van die vroue se narratief bestaan wat ń resultaat is van en die veelheid van die menslike ervaring in die konteks van ń lewenservaring so kompleks soos tienerswangerskap vertoon. Moederskap, veral jong moederskap soos dit oor tyd vorder, word breedweg gekenmerk deur beide vreugde en stryd. Eerder as om in isolasie en as ń lineêere progressive van die een na die ander plaas te vind, ruil vroue om en hou ruimte vir ń reeks - soms teenstrydige - emosies, wat tot hierdie vasgehoue spanning lei. Die bevindinge van hierdie studie was nie heeltemal nuut nie, aangesien die tasbare probleme van jong moederskap in vorige studies van 'n soortgelyke aard aangespreek is. Hierdie studie het egter vanuit 'n uniek perspektief insig verskaf tot dié van die meeste navorsing wat tienerswangerskap in Suid-Afrika ondersoek, waardeur die subjektiewe ervaring van jong moederskap van dieselfde vroue oor tyd binne 'n kwalitatiewe paradigma te ondersoek. As gevolg van die veelvlakkige, komplekse aard van jong moederskap, kan die verkenning van die ervaring van moederskap vanuit vroue se perspektief buite die bestek van hierdie studie uitgebrei word. 'n Veelvlakkige narratief waarbinne daar nog meer ontdek moet word, is deur hierdie studie onthul. Beperkings spesifiek vir die huidige studie en aanbevelings vir toekomstige navorsing is oorweeg. | af_ZA |
| dc.description.version | Masters | en_ZA |
| dc.format.extent | xi, 240 pages | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/126076 | en_ZA |
| dc.language.iso | en_ZA | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Pregnancy -- Psychological aspects -- Western Cape (South Africa) | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Teenage mothers – Mental health -- Western Cape (South Africa) | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Stigma (Social psychology) | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Low-income mothers -- Western Cape (South Africa) | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | UCTD | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Navigating young motherhood: a retrospective study into the reflections of the teenage motherhood experience by mothers within a community of the Western Cape | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |
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