Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T01:27:08.023Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Teenage Mothers and Social Isolation: The Role of Friendship as Protection against Relational Exclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2018

Kyla Ellis-Sloan  and
Amy Tamplin
Kyla Ellis-Sloan
Affiliation:
School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton E-mail: Kes13@brighton.ac.uk
Amy Tamplin
Affiliation:
E-mail: Amyrosetamplin@live.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores links made between teenage mothers and isolation: in particular, the notion of ‘relational exclusion’ (Kidger, 2004). Political conceptualisations of social exclusion often ignore this aspect and instead focus on the economic dynamics of exclusion. As a consequence, policies aimed at addressing the exclusion of teenage parents often focus on education and employment as solutions. This article argues that friendships are overlooked as a source of potential support. It therefore builds on work that has observed teenage mothers’ isolation and loneliness to examine how a teenage pregnancy affects a young woman's friendship networks. It then goes on to expand understanding of how new friendships are formed and the types of support they provide. The article concludes by proposing that social policy has a role in facilitating friendship support through investment, integrating group support with one-to-one methods and tackling stigma.

Keywords

Teenage motherhoodteenage pregnancyfriendshipsocial supportsocial exclusion
Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , April 2019 , pp. 203 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, C., Duncan, S. and Edwards, R. (2010) ‘‘Just a mum or dad’: experiencing teenage parenting and work-life balances’, in Duncan, S., Edwards, R. and Alexander, C. (eds.), Teenage Parenthood: What's the Problem? London: Tufnell Press, 135–56.Google Scholar
Allan, G. (1996) Kinship and Friendship in Modern Britain, Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Allan, G. (2005) ‘Boundaries of friendship’, in McKie, L. and Cunningham-Burley, S. (eds.), Families in Society: Boundaries and Relationships, Bristol: Policy Press, 227–40.Google Scholar
Alldred, P. and David, M. (2010) ‘What's the importance at the end of the day? Young mothers’ values and policy presumptions’, in Duncan, S., Edwards, R. and Alexander, C. (eds.), Teenage Parenthood: What's the Problem? London: Tufnell Press, 24–46.Google Scholar
Arai, L. (2007) 'Peer and neighbourhood influences on teenage pregnancy and fertility: Qualitative findings from research in English communities’, Health and Place, 13, 87–98.Google Scholar
Arai, L. (2009) Teenage Pregnancy: The Making and Unmaking of a Problem, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Barclay, L., Everitt, L., Rogan, F., Schmied, V. and Wyllie, A. (1997) ‘Becoming a mother—an analysis of women's experience of early motherhood’, Journal of advanced nursing, 25, 4, 719–28.Google Scholar
Barnes, M. (2012) Care in Everyday Life: An Ethic of Care in Practice, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Berrington, A., Diamond, I., Ingham, R., Stevenson, J., Borgoni, R., Cobos Hernández, M. I. and Smith, P. W. (2005) Consequences of Teenage Parenthood: Pathways which Minimise the Long Term Negative Impacts of Teenage Childbearing, London: Department of Health/University of Southampton, https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/34783/1/full_report_-_november_05.pdf [accessed 19.04.2017].Google Scholar
Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 2, 77–101.Google Scholar
Budgeon, S. (2006) ‘Friendship and formations of sociality in late modernity: the challenge of ‘post-traditional intimacy’,’ Sociological Research Online 11, 3.Google Scholar
Bunting, L. and McAuley, C. (2004) ‘Research review: teenage pregnancy: the role of fathers’, Child and Family Social Work, 9, 295–303.Google Scholar
Cater, S. and Coleman, L. (2006) Planned Teenage Pregnancy: Perspectives of Young Parents from Disadvantaged Backgrounds, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Policy Press.Google Scholar
Chiveralls, K. (2006) ‘The weakest link? Social capital in Australian regional development’, in Edwards, R., Franklin, J. and Holland, J. (eds.), Assessing Social Capital: Concept, Policy and Practice, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 129–46.Google Scholar
Craig, G. and Stanley, N. (2006) ‘Visibility, immobility and stigma: young people's use of sexual health services in rural areas’, Children and Society, 20, 3, 171–82.Google Scholar
Cronin, A. M. (2015) ‘‘Domestic friends’: women's friendships, motherhood and inclusive intimacy’, The Sociological Review, 63, 3, 662–79.Google Scholar
de Jonge, A. (2001) ‘Support for teenage mothers: a qualitative study into the views of women about the support they received as teenage mothers’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 36, 1, 49–57.Google Scholar
Department for Education (2017) Schools to Teach 21st Century Relationships and Sex Education, London: Department for Education, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/schools-to-teach-21st-century-relationships-and-sex-education [accessed 19.04.2017].Google Scholar
Dodds, A. (2009) ‘Families “at risk” and the family nurse partnership: the intrusion of risk into social exclusion policy’, Journal of Social Policy, 38, 3, 499–514.Google Scholar
Duncan, S., Edwards, R. and Alexander, C. (2010) Teenage Parenthood: What's the Problem? London: The Tufnell Press.Google Scholar
Ellis-Sloan, K. (2014) ‘ Teenage mothers, stigma and their ‘presentations of self’’, Sociological Research Online, 19, 1, 1–13.Google Scholar
Ellis-Sloan, K. (2015) ‘ Practising care in teenage mother support groups’, Critical Social Policy, 35, 4, 535–55.Google Scholar
Ermisch, J. (2003) ‘ Does a Teen-Birth’ Have Longer-term Impacts on the Mother? Suggestive Evidence from the British Household Panel Study, Working Papers of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Colchester: University of Essex, https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/91969/1/2003-32.pdf [accessed 19.04.2017].Google Scholar
Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) (2015) Family Nurse Partnership, http://fnp.nhs.uk [accessed 02.10.2017].Google Scholar
Formby, E., Hirst, J. and Owen, J. (2010) ‘Pathways to adulthood: reflections from three generations of young mothers and fathers’ in Duncan, S., Edwards, R. and Alexander, C. (eds.), Teenage Parenthood: What's the Problem? London: Tufnell Press, 85–110.Google Scholar
Gottlieb, B. and Pancer, S. (1988) ‘Social networks and the transition to parenthood’, in Michaels, G. and Goldberg, W. (eds.), The Transition to Parenthood: Current Theory and Research, New York: Cambridge University Press, 235–69.Google Scholar
Graham, H. and McDermott, E. (2005) ‘Qualitative research and the evidence base of policy: insights from the studies of teenage mothers in the UK’, Journal of Social Policy, 35, 1, 12–37.Google Scholar
Hawkes, D. (2010) ‘Just what difference does teenage motherhood make? Evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study’, in Duncan, S., Alexander, C. and Edwards, R. (eds.), Teenage Parenthood: What's the Problem? London: The Tufnell press, 69–84.Google Scholar
Hawkes, D., Joshi, H. and Ward, K. (2004) Unequal Entry to Motherhood and Unequal Starts in Life: Evidence from the First Survey of the UK Millennium Cohort Report, University of London, UK.Google Scholar
Hosie, A. (2007) ‘‘I hated everything about school': an examination of the relationship between dislike of school, teenage pregnancy and educational disengagement’, Social Policy and Society, 6, 3, 333–47.Google Scholar
Hupcey, J. (1998) ‘Social support: assessing conceptual coherence’, Qualitative Health Research, 8, 304–18.Google Scholar
Jewell, D., Tacchi, J. and Donovan, J. (2000) ‘Teenage pregnancy: whose problem is it?', Family Practice, 17, 6, 522–28.Google Scholar
Kaplan, E. (1997) Not our Kind of Girl: Unravelling the Myths of Black Teenage Motherhood, Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kidger, J. (2004) 'Including young mothers: limitations to New Labour's strategy for supporting teenage parents', Critical Social Policy, 24, 3, 291–311.Google Scholar
Kirkman, M., Harrison, L., Hillier, L. and Pyett, P. (2001) ‘‘I know I'm doing a good job’: canonical and autobiographical narratives of teenage mothers’, Culture, Health and Sexuality, 3, 3, 279–94.Google Scholar
Levitas, R. (2012) ‘The just's umbrella: austerity and the big society in coalition policy and beyond’, Critical Social Policy, 32, 3, 320–42.Google Scholar
Logsdon, C., Gagne, P., Hughes, T., Patterson, J. and Rakestraw, V. (2005) 'Social support during adolescent pregnancy: piecing together a quilt', Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing, 34, 5, 606–614.Google Scholar
McDermott, E., Graham, H. and Hamilton, V. (2004) ‘Experiences of being a teenage mother in the UK: a report of a systematic review of qualitative studies’, The Centre for Evidence-based Public Health Policy, the Social and Public Health Services Unit, Glasgow: University of Glasgow.Google Scholar
McLeod, A., Baker, D. and Black, M. (2006) ‘Investigating the nature of formal social support provision for young mothers in a city in the North West of England’ Health and Social Care in the Community 14, 6, 453–64.Google Scholar
Oakley, A. (1992) Social Support and Motherhood, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Palmer, A. (2009) ‘Why are we so surprised that our teenagers are having babies?’, The Telegraph, 14 February, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4624195/Why-are-we-so-surprised-that-our-teenagers-are-having-babies.html [accessed 08.11.2012].Google Scholar
Pedersen, V. and Lewis, S. (2012) ‘Flexible friends? Flexible working time arrangements, blurred work-life boundaries and friendship’, Work, employment and society, 26, 3, 464–80.Google Scholar
Phoenix, A. (1991) Young Mothers?, Oxford: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Raisborough, J. and Adams, M. (2008) ‘Mockery and morality in popular cultural representations of the white, working class’, Sociological Research Online, 13, 6, 2.Google Scholar
Romsey Mill (2017) ‘Children's Centre Consultation: UPDATE - 28th September 2017’, http://www.romseymill.org/children-s-centre-consultation-2/ [accessed 02.10.2017].Google Scholar
Roseneil, S. and Budgeon, S. (2004) ‘Cultures of intimacy and care beyond ‘the family’: personal life and social change in the early 21st century’, Current Sociology, 52, 2, 135–39.Google Scholar
Rudoe, N. (2014) ‘Becoming a young mother: teenage pregnancy and parenting policy’, Critical Social Policy, 34, 3, 293–11.Google Scholar
Schalet, A. (2004) ‘Must we fear adolescent sexuality?’, Medscape General Medicine, 6, 4.Google Scholar
SmithBattle, L. (2013) ‘Reducing the stigmatization of teen mothers’, The American Journal of Maternal Nursing 38, 4, 235–41.Google Scholar
Speak, S., Cameron, S., Woods, R. and Gilroy, R. (1995) Young Single Mothers: Barriers to Independent Living, London: Family Policy Studies Centre.Google Scholar
Spencer, L. and Pahl, R. (2006) Rethinking Friendship: Hidden Solidarities Today, Princeton: University Press.Google Scholar
Stapleton, H. (2010) Surviving Teenage Motherhood. Myths and Realities, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Teather, S. (2011) Ministerial Message about Teenage Pregnancy Rates from Sarah Teather MP, Minister for Children and Families, https://web.archive.org/web/20121226162527/ https://www.fpa.org.uk/professionals/teenage-pregnancy-message-from-sarah-teather-mp [accessed 26.12.2012].Google Scholar
Weeks, J., Donovan, C. and Heaphy, B. (2001) Same Sex Intimacies: Families of Choice and other Life Experiments, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Whitehead, E. (2001) 'Teenage pregnancy: on the road to social death', International Journal of Nursing Studies, 38, 437–46.Google Scholar
Wiggins, M., Oakley, A., Sawtell, M., Austerberry, H., Clemens, F. and Elbourne, D. (2005) Teenage Parenthood and Social Exclusion: A Multi-Method Study, Social Science Research Unit, London: University of London, http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk/3007/1/Wiggins2005TeenageParenthood.pdf [accessed 19.04.2017].Google Scholar
Willmott, P. (1987) Friendship Networks and Social Support, Research Report No. 666, Policy Studies Institute: London.Google Scholar
Young Women's Trust (YWT) (2017) What Matters to Young Mums, London: YWT, https://www.youngwomenstrust.org/assets/0000/6339/Young_Mums_report_version_2.pdf [accessed 02.10.2017].Google Scholar