title: A narrative analysis of the birth stories of early-age mothers.
abstract: The telling of birth stories (i.e. stories that describe women's experiences of giving birth) is a common and important social practice. Whereas most research on birth narratives reflects the stories of middle-class, 'adult' women, we examine how the birth stories told by early-age mothers interconnect with broader narratives regarding social stigma and childbearing at 'too early' an age. Drawing on narrative theory, we analyse in-depth interviews with 81 mothers (ages 15-24 years) conducted in Greater Vancouver and Prince George, Canada, in 2014-15. Their accounts of giving birth reveal the central importance of birth narratives in their identity formation as young mothers. Participants' narratives illuminated the complex interactions among identity formation, social expectations, and negotiations of social and physical spaces as they narrated their experiences of labour and birth. Through the use of narrative inquiry, we examine the ways in which re-telling the experience of giving birth serves to situate young mothers in relation to their past and future selves. These personal stories are also told in relation to a meta-narrative regarding social stigma faced by 'teenage' mothers, as well as the public's 'gaze' on motherhood in general - even within the labour and delivery room.
authors: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Carson
authors: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors: Cathy
authors: C
authors: Chabot
authors: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.|Child and Family Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors: Devon
authors: D
authors: Greyson
authors: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.|British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Gender and Sexual Health Initiative, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors: Kate
authors: K
authors: Shannon
authors: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Gender and Sexual Health Initiative, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.|University of New South Wales Faculty of Medicine, Kirby Institute, Sydney, Australia.
authors: Putu
authors: P
authors: Duff
authors: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.|British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Gender and Sexual Health Initiative, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors: Jean
authors: J
authors: Shoveller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D033262:Narration; D036801:Parturition / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D057545:Social Stigma; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: adolescent pregnancy; birth; early-age motherhood; narrative