Teenage maternity: life’s new meaning?

Abstract

Objective: To identify transformations arising from teen pregnancy from the perspective of young women. Method: Study of qualitative and descriptive approach with 34 young women of low socio-economic strata that gave birth in the year 2010 as teenagers. The data have been collected through semistructured interviews with questions about life before and after maternity, explored through content analysis. Results: The life of the teenagers before pregnancy is heterogeneous in social, work and schooling aspects. After maternity, the freedom of being is re-confi gured, bringing losses related to the abandonment of studies, to the reduction in social life and to the stigma of teenage maternity; the gains from resignifi cation of lifestyle, the abandonment of illegal and criminal conduct, increased selfconfi dence the reduction of exposure to violence inside the family, accompanied by new responsibilities, from the reconciliation of study and work or the abandonment of one of these activities. Conclusion: Maternity generates a feeling of satisfaction brought about by the experience of being a mother, with a new social identity.