Young women's views on teenage motherhood: a possible explanation for the relationship between socio‐economic background and teenage pregnancy outcome?

Abstract

While teenagers from relatively affluent backgrounds usually abort their pregnancies, those from relatively deprived backgrounds tend to keep theirs. It has been suggested that this situation is due to some form of acceptance of teenage motherhood existing among disadvantaged groups. This theory, however, is still to be established. Two hundred and forty‐eight women (mean age 15.6 years) from diverse social and economic backgrounds completed a questionnaire that gathered information on their lives and views of teenage motherhood. Six discussion groups were then held with selected subgroups of these women in order to explore their views in greater detail. It was evident that most participants viewed teenage motherhood in a predominately negative light, but that women from relatively deprived areas were more likely than their relatively affluent peers to predict they would keep a teenage pregnancy. Possible explanations for this difference are discussed, and the validity of the acceptance theory considered.