Intergenerational Patterns of Early Marriage and Childbearing in Rural Central Java, Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to explore women’s views and experiences of inter-generational early childbearing, and observe the mechanism of inherited early motherhood in Indonesia. Six informants of in-depth interview were women who gave birth before the age of 18 and have a mother or daughter who was also a teenage mother. As women have been through different events in their life trajectories, the feeling and experience of being a teenage mother were expressed differently by the three different generations. Grandmothers expressed their regret for missing their chance to continue their studies when their parents forced them to marry young. Their disappointment with the current economic status and their past sorrow had placed early childbearing as a remorseful event. While the mothers’ generation expressed less guilt, daughters showed no regret for their decision to become teenage mothers. Regarding the mechanism by which early childbearing is repeated across generations, social theory seems to be the most convincing approach to explain how the younger generation followed their parents in starting their childbearing early. It appears that, although the younger generation has their own values in making fertility decisions, their attitudes and practices are shaped from their observation towards their parents’ fertility behavior.