Negotiating identities: The transition to motherhood in young urban adolescent mothers

This study provides a description and understanding of the lived transitional experiences of urban adolescent mothers as they transformed into becoming mothers and developed maternal role identity. In addition, this study attempted to gather an understanding of the key factors and components that affected the urban adolescent mothers as they balanced the developmental duality of being a teen and becoming a mother. Through face-to-face, in-depth interviews, this researcher closely examined the perceptions, thoughts, and feelings and lived experiences of urban adolescent mothers regarding their emotions and feelings, parenting stressors, cognitive views of self, and environmental factors as they related to motherhood. The study obtained a description and an understanding of the phenomenon that these mothers endured as they transitioned into their roles of becoming a mother and identified the psychosocial impacts that early childbearing had on their overall identity development. The sample populations used for this study consisted of urban adolescent mothers between the ages of 18 and 22 who resided in a southeastern urban city. Twelve mothers between the ages of 18 and 22 provided in-depth data revealing their experiences. The results of this study identified six reoccurring themes shared by the participants: (a) experiencing conflicting identities, (b) defining a new and positive sense of self, (c) accepting maternal role duties and responsibilities, (d) constantly needing support, (e) experiencing emotional cycling, (f) experiencing mental health symptomology. Further, the findings from this study suggested that the transitional process of becoming a mother for adolescent mothers consists of cognitive fluctuation: ruminating thoughts, feelings, and emotions about their new roles as mothers and contemplations of their roles as an adolescent; behavioral transformation, which included making decisions and taking actions that were more positive and goal oriented; and the continual needs of consistency, stabilization, and support to assist them with their psychological paradox of their dueling worlds, of being an adolescent, and becoming a mother. Implications for further research should include a larger sample population and further research on the emotional cycling process of adolescent mothers.