title: The vulnerabilities of teenage mothers: challenging prevailing assumptions.
abstract: The belief that early childbearing leads to poverty permeates our collective understanding. However, recent findings reveal that for many teens, mothering makes sense of the limited life options that precede their pregnancies. The author challenges several assumptions about teenage mothers and offers an alternative to the modern view of the unencumbered self that drives current responses to teen childbearing. This alternative perspective entails a situated view of the self and a broader notion of parenting and citizenship that supports teen mothers and affirms our mutual interdependence.
authors.affiliation: Saint Louis University, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: SmithBattle
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002755:Choice Behavior; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011287:Prejudice; D012649:Self Concept; D014481:United States