Kaye Dan K
Makerere University Medical School, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, P,O, Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
BMC Public Health. 2008 Mar 4;8:83. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-8-83.
Adolescence is a transitional stage from childhood to adulthood that is characterized by physical, physiological, psychosocial and behavioral changes that are influenced to a large extent by the age, culture and socialization of the individual. To explore what adolescent mothers perceive as their struggles during the period of transition from childhood to parenthood (through motherhood) and to describe strategies employed in coping with stress of pregnancy, motherhood and parenthood.
Longitudinal qualitative study involving twenty two in-depth interviews and six focus group discussions among pregnant adolescents who were followed from pregnant to delivery, from January 2004 to August 2005. Participant were selected by theoretical sampling and data was analyzed using grounded theory.
Overall, young adolescents reported more anxiety, loss of self esteem (when they conceived), difficulty in accessing financial, moral and material support from parents or partners and stigmatization by health workers when they sought care from health facilities. Three strategies by which adolescent mothers cope with parenting and pregnancy stress that were described as utilizing opportunities (thriving), accommodating the challenges (bargaining and surviving), or failure (despairing), and varied in the extent to which they enabled adolescents to cope with the stress.
Adolescents on the transition to motherhood have variable needs and aspirations and utilize different strategies to cope with the stress of pregnancy and parenthood.
青春期是从童年到成年的过渡阶段，其特点是身体、生理、心理社会和行为发生变化，这些变化在很大程度上受个体的年龄、文化和社会化影响。旨在探究青春期母亲在从童年到为人父母（通过成为母亲）的过渡阶段所认为的挣扎，并描述应对怀孕、母亲身份和为人父母压力所采用的策略。
纵向定性研究，于2004年1月至2005年8月对22名从怀孕到分娩的青春期孕妇进行了深入访谈，并开展了6次焦点小组讨论。通过理论抽样选择参与者，并使用扎根理论分析数据。
总体而言，青少年孕妇报告了更多焦虑情绪、（怀孕时）自尊丧失、难以从父母或伴侣处获得经济、道德和物质支持，以及在寻求医疗机构护理时受到医护人员的污名化。青春期母亲应对养育子女和怀孕压力的三种策略被描述为利用机会（茁壮成长）、适应挑战（讨价还价和生存）或失败（绝望），且在帮助青少年应对压力的程度上各不相同。
处于向母亲身份过渡阶段的青少年有不同的需求和愿望，并采用不同策略来应对怀孕和为人父母的压力。
