Teenage childbearing around the world and in South Africa

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PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RATIONALE

Introduction

This chapter provides an orientation to the research. It includes background information, an explanation of the purpose of the research as well as a list of terminology used often throughout this thesis. It concludes with an outline of the chapters that make up this research report.

Background and problem statement

Teenage parenting is increasingly seen as a growing societal problem with the risks to teenage mothers and their offspring’s development often highlighted in international as well as local discourses (Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 1998; Dickson, 2003). Early motherhood requires young girls to negotiate the challenges of adolescence and parenting simultaneously, thereby placing multiple demands on their coping mechanisms and ability to parent effectively (Hess, Papas, & Black, 2002). Additionally, becoming a mother during the formative school going years appears to disrupt the typical progression of adolescent girls to adulthood, leading to an increase in school dropout rate, thus limiting employment prospects and future earning potential (Gustafsson & Worku, 2007). Children born to teenage mothers are therefore thought to be at increasing risk for developmental delay from maladaptive parenting (Osofsky & Thompson, 2000) through the processes of immature and stressful parent-child transactions (Larson, 2004; Sameroff & Fiese, 2000) and economic stressors. Parenting, however, does not exist in a vacuum and it has long been acknowledged that children grow up in family systems where they may have access to more than one caregiver (McHale, 2007).
Consistent with this, alternative discourses of teenage motherhood have argued that the availability of parenting support from people within the teenage mother’s microsystem, for example the grandmother, have the potential to act as buffers against these risks (Jones, Zalot, Foster, Sterrett, & Chester, 2007; Macleod, 2001; SmithBattle, 2000). Particularly within the South African context, the availability of members of the extended family to offer parenting support when a young girl becomes a mother is well documented in certain African cultures (Bray, Gooskens, Kahn, Moses, & Seekings, 2010; Jewkes, Vundule, Maforah & Jordaan, 2001; Preston-Whyte & Zondi, 1992). However, there are also indications that the supportive parenting roles played by members of the extended family may be under threat, especially when economic conditions deteriorate (Bray & Brandt, 2007). It is therefore not clear whether teenage mothers are still able to access traditional parenting support, especially in environments where socioeconomic conditions are less favourable. In addition, the buffering nature of parenting support within this population is also still not well understood.
This has led to conflicting evidence regarding its beneficial nature, with some studies suggesting that parenting support provided by grandmothers results in better parenting outcomes for teenage mothers (Davis, Rhodes, & Hamilton-Leaks, 1997; Gordon, Chase-Lansdale, & Brooks-Gunn, 2004;). In contrast, other studies have suggested that involvement of the grandmother in parenting may result in more stress for teenage mothers (Voight, Hans & Bernstein, 1998) and poorer parenting behaviour (Black & Nitz, 1996; Wakschlag, Chase-Lansdale, & Brooks-Gunn, 1996). Child outcomes under these conditions are similarly inconclusive (Black & Nitz, 1996; Leadbeater & Bishop, 1994). Therefore, much of what is known about the buffering effects of parenting support to teenage mothers remains uncertain, with the processes and mechanisms underlying it yet to be fully explained (Caldwell, Antonucci, & Jackson, 1998).
Research with single African American mothers (Jones et al., 2007), however, suggests that a coparenting framework, that is, the manner in which caregivers who are responsible for the upbringing of the child work together in their role as parents to negotiate the child rearing process (Feinberg, 2002; McHale, 1995), may shed light on the noted inconsistencies. Through the ground-breaking work of Salvador Minuchin (1974) and Patricia Minuchin (1985) working in the field of family systems theory, there has been a growing realisation that over and above dyadic, parent-child relationships, the marital dyad or interpersonal relationship quality, the quality of the relationship between parenting figures within the parenting holon or system, is strongly associated with parenting and child outcomes (Feinberg, 2003).
Coparenting processes, it is argued, are pivotal to understanding how family dynamics affect the development of children (Baker, McHale, Strozier, & Cecil, 2010). From a bio- ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994), enhancing micro-systemic relationships between coparenting partners indirectly improves parent-child transactions (Feinberg, 2003). The pathway for this is through the process of fostering parental self-efficacy, which in turn, has been shown to be linked to maternal sensitivity and warmth (Teti, O’Connell, & Reiner, 1996). Ultimately, these are important factors responsible for enhancing early attachment security, which is one of the basic necessities for early child development. Therefore, the extent to which parenting figures either do or do not cooperate as a team in raising their children rather than the presence or absence of these individuals alone, is thought to most consistently predict child development outcomes (Feinberg, 2003). As yet, coparenting, both in the international and South African literature has rarely been investigated in the context of teenage parenting (Pittman &Coley, 2011).
From an international perspective, coparenting theory and constructs have largely developed by examining nuclear, Western family structures, although there is a realisation that this limits its generalisability and applicability to other family systems and contexts (McHale, Kuersten-Hogan & Rao, 2004). While there has been much focus on the reasons for the current upsurge in teenage pregnancy in South Africa (Macleod & Tracey, 2010), very little is known about the family environments in which teenage mothers reside and the parenting support offered to them (if any) from their families or from others in their environment. Therefore, an in-depth analysis into the exact nature of this support within an extended family structure as well as the coparenting processes underlying the relationship warrants further investigation.

INDEX :

• Acknowledgements
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• List of Appendices
• Abstract
• Opsomming
• CHAPTER
  • 1.1 Introduction
  • 1.2 Background and problem statement
  • 1.3 Terminology
  • 1.4 Abbreviations
  • 1.5 Writing style
  • 1.6 Outline of chapters
  • 1.7 Summary
• CHAPTER
  • 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.2 Theoretical framework
    • 2.2.1 Ecological systems theory
    • 2.2.2 Guralnick’s (2001) model of early developmental outcomes
    • 2.2.3 Family systems theory
    • 2.2.4 A coparenting theoretical framework
    • 2.2.5 A developmental ecological framework of coparenting
  • 2.3 Teenage childbearing around the world and in South Africa
  • 2.4 The consequences of teenage parenting
    • 2.4.1 Teenage parenting and adolescent outcomes
    • 2.4.2 Teenage parenting and child outcomes
    • 2.4.3 Alternative discourses of teenage motherhood
  • 2.5 Familial support as a protective factor
    • 2.5.1 Social support as a protective factor
    • 2.5.2 Parenting support from grandmothers
    • 2.5.3 Support from the child’s biological father
    • 2.5.4 Support from other members of the extended family system
  • 2.6 A coparenting approach to teenage parenting
    • 2.6.1 The components of coparenting
    • 2.6.1.1 Division of caregiving labour
    • 2.6.1.2 Degree of support versus undermining coparenting
    • 2.6.1.3 Child rearing agreement
    • 2.6.1.4 Joint family management
    • 2.6.1.5 Coparenting solidarity
    • 2.6.2 Coparenting and teenage mothers in extended family systems
  • 2.7 Summary
• CHAPTER
  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 Research question
  • 3.3 Aims
    • 3.3.1 Main research aim
    • 3.3.2 Sub aims
  • 3.4 Research Design
    • 3.4.1 The process of coming to a research design
    • 3.4.2 Mixed methods research design
    • 3.4.3 Mixed methods in the family science, coparenting and early childhood intervention fields
    • 3.4.4 Mixed methods designs in relation to the current study
    • 3.4.5 The synergistic mixed methods design of the current study
  • 3.5 Summary
• CHAPTER
  • 4.1 Introduction
  • 4.2 Stages of the research
  • 4.3 Stage 1: Preparatory stage
    • 4.3.1 Obtaining ethical approval for the study
    • 4.3.2 Development of materials and measuring instruments
    • 4.3.2.1 Semi-structured interview schedule for teenage mothers
    • 4.3.2.2 Development of the Coparenting Quality Questionnaire for Teenage Mothers (CPQTM)
    • 4.3.2.3 Establishing content validity of CPQTM items within the six domains
    • 4.3.3 Negotiating entry into the research site
    • 4.3.4 Instrument and procedural validity
    • 4.3.4.1 Focus groups
    • 4.3.4.2 Content validity of the CPQTM using information rich teenage mothers
    • 4.3.4.3 Translation of measuring instruments
  • 4.4 Stage 2: Pilot Study
  • 4.4.1 Participants
  • 4.4.2 resultslts and recommendations regarding materials and procedures
  • 4.5 The research site
  • 4.6 Main Study-Phase 1: Teenage mothers
  • 4.6.1 Participants
    • 4.6.1.1 Criteria for Participant Selection
    • 4.6.1.2 Recruitment and sampling
    • 4.6.1.3 Description of participants
    • 4.6.2 Data collection materials and procedures
    • 4.6.2.1 The Interview Schedule for Teenage Mothers
    • 4.6.2.2 Measure for Division of Caregiving Labour
    • 4.6.2.3 Coparenting Quality Questionnaire for Teenage Mothers (CPQTM)
  • 4.7 Main study-Phase 2: Coparents
    • 4.7.1 Description of coparents
    • 4.7.2 Procedures
  • 4.8 Main study-Phase 3: Interviews with key community informants
    • 4.8.1 Description of key community informants
    • 4.8.2 Data collection and materials
  • 4.9 Data Analysis and statistical procedures
    • 4.9.1 Quantitative data analysis
    • 4.9.1.1 Preparation of data
    • 4.9.1.2 Statistical procedures
  • 4.9.2 Qualitative data analysis
    • 4.9.2.1 Preparing the data for analysis
    • 4.9.2.2 Thematic analysis
    • 4.9.2.3 Interpretation of themes
  • 4.10 Summary
• CHAPTER
  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.2 Procedural integrity
  • 5.3 Living arrangements, household composition and family structure of teenage mothers
  • 5.4 The parenting arrangements of teenage mothers
  • 5.5 Identification of coparents
  • 5.6 The roles of coparents
    • 5.6.1 The decision-making responsibilities of female coparents
    • 5.6.2 The roles and responsibilities of coparenting fathers
    • 5.6.3 Factors that limit the role of fathers’ involvement in their children’s lives
  • 5.7 The quality of coparenting relationships
  • 5.7.1 Reliability of the CPQTM
  • 5.7.2 Coparenting relationship quality
  • 5.7.2.1 Division of Caregiving Labour
  • 5.7.3 Factors that contribute to the high quality of the coparenting relationship
  • 5.7.3.1 Pre- and post-natal interpersonal relationship status
  • 5.7.3.2 Satisfaction with the division of caregiving labour
  • 5.8 Summary
• CHAPTER
  • 6.1 Introduction
  • 6.2 Coparenting and the ecocultural context
  • 6.3 The theoretical lens for identifying ecocultural themes
  • 6.3.1 Institutional resources
  • 6.3.1.1 Recreational opportunities
  • 6.3.1.2 Employment opportunities
  • 6.3.1.4 Health care facility resources
  • 6.3.2 Parental relationships
  • 6.3.3 Collective efficacy
  • 6.3.3.1 Collective efficacy, support networks and coping abilities of coparents
  • 6.3.3.2 Collective efficacy and coparenting
  • 6.3.4 Culture
  • 6.4 Summary
• CHAPTER
  • 7.1 Introduction
  • 7.2 Extended family structure and the availability of coparenting partners
  • 7.2.1 Multi-person coparenting systems
  • 7.2.2 Cultural characteristics that influence the decision of family members to
  • coparent
  • 7.3 Decision making: An adaptive response to mentoring within a collectivist culture
  • 7.3.1 A mentoring model of coparenting with grandmothers in a collectivist
  • culture
  • 7.3.2 Clinical implications
  • 7.3.3 Summary
  • 7.4 The coparenting roles of fathers of children born to teenage mothers
  • 7.5 Coparenting quality
  • 7.6 Implications
    • 7.6.1 Educational attainment
    • 7.6.2 Financial stressors and teenage parenting
    • 7.6.2.1 Implications for service delivery
    • 7.6.3.1 Implications for intervention and policy
  • 7.7 Summary
• CHAPTER
  • 8.1 Introduction
  • 8.2 Summary of results and the contributions of the study
  • 8.3 Clinical implications
  • 8.4 Critical evaluation of the research
    • 8.4.1 Strengths of the study
    • 8.4.2 Limitations
  • 8.5 Recommendations for further research
  • 8.6 Summary
  • References
  • Appendices

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