Early parenthood among young people of minority ethnic origin in England

Abstract

In 1999, a framework for government policy on teenage pregnancy was created with a major report from the Social Exclusion Unit. Young mothers from minority ethnic backgrounds were considered to be at particular risk of exclusion, although there was little detailed research on their experiences. Findings on social support for young parents in general are emerging but remain limited; published work which directly addresses young minority parents’ experiences, and views is very scarce. This paper describes a qualitative study to explore the teenage parenting experiences of ethnic minority young parents in England. The views of service providers and grandmothers were also elicited. Data were collected using focus groups interviews, in-depth semi-structured interviews and a telephone survey. The National Centre for Social Research ‘Framework’ approach for analysis was used.