Emotional Crises of School-Age Girls During Pregnancy and Early Motherhood

Childbearing Among Unwed African American Adolescents: A Critique of Theories

“…In her classic treatise, The Unwed Mother, Young set the course for female culpability and psychological dysfunction. Thereafter, emotional disorders resonated in investigations of adolescent pregnancy According to this model, the pregnant female adolescent sexually acts out, is in developmental crisis, experiences identity foreclosure, lacks separation-individuation, feels inadequate, is impulsive, or has a poor self-concept (Barglow, 1967;Barth, Schinke, & Maxwell, 1983;Elkes & Crocitto 1987;Fineman & Smith, 1984;Fisher, 1984; Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry 1986; Hart & Hilton, 1988;LaBarre, 1972;Shaffer & Pine, 1972;Zongker, 1977). More recent claims have been that the intergenerational transmission of emotional disorders, such as depression, is a contributing antecedent factor in African American adolescent childbearing families (S. M.…”

Adolescent development and adolescent pregnancy among late age African-American female adolescents

“…For instance, the psychological model, primarily influenced by classical psychoanalytic theory, emphasized personality dynamics. Adolescent childbearing was interpreted as one of sexual acting out behavior, failure of individuation, i.e., pre-oedipal narcissistic fixations, or depression (Gap, 1986;Horowitz, Klerman, Kuo, & Jekel 1991;LaBarre, 1972;Sanders, 1991;Schaffer & Pine, 1972;Young, 1954). Stew0rt (1981) argues that an examination of pregnancy at adolescence requires that deviancy not be attributed to normative characteristics associated with the status of female and adolescence.…”

Adolescent mothers and their infants: Psychological factors in early attachment and interaction.

“…The early theoretical interpretations of adolescent pregnancy as an oedipal or preoedipal regression 1s. 19.20 have received scant empirical support,"Jo 2s,32* 61 but consistently unsatisfying, frustrating, and even enmeshed relationships between pregnant teenagers and their mothers appear prevalent.10033, 35 Teenage mothers tend to come from broken homes: 01 strength 11.12,19,28,30, 40, 56-have been 10.48 their relationships with their fathers have usually been described as unrewarding.3'~ 50 T h e difficult interactions between pregnant teenagers and their parents have been thought to lead to problems in feminine identification and ego structure.800, 10, 50 This is particularly important, since the establishment of a secure feminine identity and the consolidation of ego structure and defenses are seen as primary developmental tasks of adolescence.3*. 57 It has been asserted that some teenage girls become pregnant in an attempt to confirm their femininity.36 Ego defects may be expressed in the conflicts and stresses experienced by adolescents during pregnancy 2 .…”