Predicting Teen Motherhood and Teen Fatherhood: Individual Characteristics and Peer Affiliations

In a longitudinal investigation of the antecedents and pathways of teen parenthood, 475 participants (248 females and 227 males) were followed from Grade 7 through early adulthood. In the first year of the investigation, homogeneous subgroups were identified by clustering participants on five characteristics (i.e., aggression, popularity, academic competence, age, and socioeconomic status). At the same time, peer social networks were identified by the Social Cognitive Map procedure. For each participant, the configuration of peer characteristics was also identified. A high correspondence was found between the individual characteristics and the characteristics of closely affiliated peers. Both teen fatherhood and teen motherhood were predicted by individual configurations and peer configurations (e.g., a combination of high aggression, low academic competence, low popularity, and low family SES). Peer characteristics, race, and family socioeconomic status assumed unique roles in predicting teen motherhood. Growth curve analyses showed that teen-mothers differed from non-mothers in their starting points and developmental trajectories. This study demonstrated that a simultaneous examination of both the individual and his/her peer context yielded important information on teen parenthood.     

Families on Television: A Content Analysis

An analysis of television programs telecast during peak viewing hours in Melbourne over one week uncovered the pattern of representation of family life. This version of family life was then compared with official statistics of the Australian population and families to highlight the discrepancies between reality and the mediated world of television. Several clear trends were observed. Programs were male-dominated, middle-aged biased, white Anglo-Saxon and largely middle-class oriented. Considerable discrepancy was apparent between family structures in the real world and the media world of family types. Further, analysis of marital relationships, sexual division of labour, ageing, and an evaluation of values reinforces a traditional conservative aura. It is considered that the dominant program formulae fail to recognise new social realities, and that orthodox family stereotypes could be affecting decisions made by policy makers.     

Discursive Struggles Within Social Welfare: Restaging Teen Motherhood

This paper is an attempt at exploring the contemporary neo-liberalcontexts in which social and community services operate andthe opportunities for undertaking struggles around rights andentitlements to social welfare within this context. It discussesthe centrality of single motherhood for the redefinition ofthe relationships of shared well-being among citizens and proposesthe frameworks of discourse analysis and identity constructionas central in contemporary debates. The paper examines the discoursesof an agency servicing teen mothers and explicates some strategiesthrough which these discourses perform an entitled teen motherhood.Subverting the general identity assigned to these mothers bysociety, research and traditional social services, the discoursesof this agency open a space in which poor young women are enactedas young parents, entitled to supports, respite and a voicein society. The discursive strategies have been successful inattracting resources for the mothers involved with the agency,though questions remain regarding the possibilities of theirwidespread application within other social welfare environments.A few concluding thoughts explore the new social welfare environmentand call for a renewed understanding of the contexts of practiceand the possibilities of subversion.