Change and continuity in family caregiving practices with young mothers and their children.
OBJECTIVE
To examine how young mothers who gave birth during adolescence extended and developed caregiving practices within the context of family relationships, caregiving traditions, and life events.


METHODS
Longitudinal, interpretive-phenomenological. A community-based sample in 1993 consisted of 13 of the 16 young mothers and 11 of the 18 grandparents who had participated in a 1988 study. Three male partners of the young mothers also participated in this 1993 study. Families resided in a Western metropolitan area in the United States.


METHODS
Life history accounts of the intervening years, stories of family routines, and recent coping episodes of parenting were elicited through in-depth interviews with the young mothers and their male partners; one interview was conducted with grandparents. Data were analyzed using the interpretive approach.


RESULTS
Adversarial caregiving practices develop or change in the context of transformed family relationships.


CONCLUSIONS
Life-course and parenting experiences of young mothers are not private and located in the self, but are developed in interaction with others. Family-centered interventions are needed that support the efforts of young mothers and grandparents to become responsive caregivers.
SmithBattle
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School of Nursing, Saint Louis University, MO, USA.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting; D012944:Social Support; D014481:United States