“I Am a Good Mother”: Becoming an Adolescent Mother in Ghana
- “I Am a Good Mother”Becoming an Adolescent Mother in Ghana
The transition to parenthood is one of the most challenging developmental transitions in the family life cycle (Nystrom & Ohrling 2004). Annually, births to adolescent girls aged fifteen to nineteen represent 16 percent of all births in sub-Saharan Africa (UNFPA 2012). The high incidence of childbearing among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa indicates a need for research that develops and refines theories and practices related to adolescent maternal roles and transitions in our context (Alan Guttmacher Institute 2004; Awusabo-Asare et al. 2004; Keller et al. 1999; Manzini 2001; Otoo-Oyortey & Pobi 2003; UNFPA 2012). Adolescent childbearing is often associated with substance abuse, school drop out, neighborhood disadvantage, and inadequate parental monitoring. Contextual factors interact with the young mother’s psychosocial immaturity, putting her at greater risk than older mothers for poor maternal role adaptation and impaired maternal-child interaction (Hanna 2001; Mngadi et al., 2003; Otoo-Oyortey & Pobi 2003; SmithBattle 2003). Furthermore, marital or cohabiting relationships between adolescents are often shortlived, causing additional stress and disruption (Clark et al. 2010; Oyefara 2009; Sigler-Rushton 2005).
As the dominant discourse of adolescent childbearing is of long-term adverse health and psychosocial outcomes for both the young mother and her infant, particularly for adolescents under the age of sixteen, the resilience of adolescent mothers is understudied (Otoo-Oyortey & Pobi 2003; WHO 2004). Without minimizing the difficulties associated with early childbearing, research must also reflect the diversity of experiences of adolescent mothers even within similar environmental contexts (Garenne et al. 2001; Keller et al. 1999; Lee et al. 2010; Moore & Chase-Lansdale 2001; SmithBattle 2003).
For some categories of adolescent mothers, pregnancies may be socially condemned. However, for others, pregnancy can be a strategy for obtaining [End Page 23] a husband or economic gain and can outweigh health risks and the loss of education and career opportunities (Anarfi & Fayorsey 1999; Awusabo-Asare et al. 2004; Bledsoe & Cohen 1993; Henry & Fayorsey 2002; Hessburg et al. 2007; Otoo-Oyortey & Pobi 2003). An understanding of the adolescent mother’s experience of motherhood will help health care providers to strengthen existing support systems and identify gaps in resources that are needed to promote optimal health for young mothers and their infants (Brubaker & Wright, 2006; Cressy, 2008; Dalla et al., 2009; Keller et al., 1999; Mngadi et al., 2003; SmithBattle, 2003).
Against this background, the study seeks to answer the question: “When adolescent childbearing occurs, what variables and processes explain successful transition to motherhood?” The study is informed by research on the transitions to adulthood and motherhood (Anarfi & Fayorsey, 1999; Beguy et al., 2011; Fouquier, 2011; Kaye, 2008; Koniak-Griffin et al., 2001; Mercer, 1985; Mercer, 1986; Mercer & Ferkevitch, 1990; Mercer, 2004; Mercer & Walker, 2006; Shanok & Miller, 2007; Rubin, 1967).
Transition to Adulthood
In traditional African societies, before colonialism and missionary activity, preparation for adulthood followed an elaborate sequence of ritual practices that symbolized the child’s development (Anarfi & Owusu, 2011). Girls in Ghana were married soon after puberty; puberty rites, rather than marriage, were traditional markers of socially sanctioned childbearing. These practices formed a carefully ordered sequence of maturational events that confined pregnancy and childbearing to a particular stage of the life cycle. More recently, formal education and early puberty have resulted in a “biosocial gap” with a prolonged period of sexual activity outside socially sanctioned relations (Bledsoe & Cohen, 1993, 144; Garenne et al., 2001; Henry & Fayorsey, 2002; Hessburg et al., 2007; Keller et al., 1999; Kumi-Kyereme et al., 2014; Manzini et al., 2001; Mba, 2003). For many adolescents, markers of the transition to adulthood are sexual debut, completion of education, full-time employment, independent housing, marriage, and parenthood (Beguy et al., 2011; Clark et al., 2010).
Adolescents’ expectations for the sequence of transition events, their educational aspirations, and their families’ socioeconomic status and expectations determine the implications of motherhood for their pathways to adulthood and their overall sense of self-efficacy and gratification in the mothering role. Although the incidence of adolescent marriage and childbearing remains high, young mothers are negotiating the transition to adulthood without the customary support of kinship groups and [End Page 24] community institutions (Awusabo...
