Abstract
Purpose Maternal identity (MI) is the attainment of maternal role adaptation. Though the role of the motherhood is expected to be achieved, teenagers, who are still developing their personal identity, do not always clearly identify or align with their role of motherhood. The purpose of this paper is to determine the structural relationship among a set of variables, infant temperament (IT), strain (ST), social support (SS), self-esteem (SE) and balanced family functioning (BF) influencing MI and to test the model using the empirical data. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 353 primiparous Thai teenagers of infants aged 4–12 months. A self-administered questionnaire comprised six scales with Cronbach’s α coefficients ranging from 0.81 to 0.93. The structural equation modeling method was employed to test the validity of the model undertaken using Mplus Software. Findings The model fit the empirical data well (χ2/df=2.17, CFI=0.92, TLI=0.91, RMSEA=0.06, SRMR=0.05). The MI could explain 62 percent of the variance through its set of variables. Three antecedents, i.e. IT, ST and SS, had a direct effect while SE and BF had an indirect effect on MI. The IT had the highest total effect on the MI, while ST was a mediator among other study antecedences concerning the MI. Originality/value The model adequately fit the data among teenage mothers one-year postpartum. Promoting MI should strongly diminish strain and encourage positively perceived infant temperament, self-esteem, social support and balanced family functioning.
Highlights
Maternal and child health problems have long been a crucial health topic, regarding primiparous teenage mothers
Study design and participants A cross-sectional survey was conducted among primiparous Thai adolescent mothers who were pregnant under 20 years of age, residing with their infants aged between 4 and 12 months under the fifth Health Region Catchment Area located in the central and western regions of Thailand
The results revealed that data of observed variables did not have perfect normality distributions
Summary
Maternal and child health problems have long been a crucial health topic, regarding primiparous teenage mothers. Mothers who are more emotionally developed are more likely to take better care of their babies whereas primiparous teenage mothers who do not clearly identify with their role of motherhood do not enjoy such positive results[1,2,3,4]. Interaction on three levels can affect the mother’s and infant’s development, i.e. family and friends, comprising the mother, infant, and father providing supportive guidelines to facilitate maternal and infant care; the community, as health care and support groups, offering resources for new parents; and society at large that promotes culture and law in the support of families.
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