Resumo

MESQUITA, Ana Letícia Pires et al. Trajectory of women who experienced pregnancy/motherhood in adolescence. Mental [online]. 2011, vol.9, n.16, pp.303-326. ISSN 1679-4427.

The objective of this study was to analyze the emotional experience that adolescent mothers have gone through, reflected in the relationship with their children, their partner, members of their families, school and other social spaces. Participants of the actual research were mothers with age between 19 and 21 years old, whom, at the time of childbirth, were between 15 and 17 years old, all of them belonging to low income social class, and with educational level varying from uncompleted elementary school to uncompleted high school. We used a semi-structured interviewing script and a MP3 recorder device to record the interviews. The meaning of motherhood was evidenced by the young women in five categories: 1) acceptance of the pregnancy/motherhood reality; 2) the feeling of being a mother; 3) the changes perceived through the experience of being a mother; 4) the care taking of their children and 5) the importance or not of the physical presence of their partners. Thus, it was possible to identify that the adolescent mothers assumed the role of mother with the support of their families and partners, overcoming many difficulties in the daily caring of their children, therefore creating an effective link of the duo mother-child, although many of them have reported going through discriminative behavior from other people inserted into their social network.

Palavras-chave : Adolescent mothers; emotional aspects; mother-child interaction; presence [absence of partner]; prejudice.

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