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What a Difference a Decade Makes: Rethinking Teenage Pregnancy as a Problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2009

Lisa Arai
Lisa Arai*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health and Social Care, The Open University E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The Teenage Pregnancy Strategy (TPS) has been implemented in England since 1999 and has two aims: to halve under 18s conceptions; and to reduce the risk of social exclusion among young mothers. The TPS portrays young motherhood as problematic, the cause of poor outcomes. Yet, the problematisation of teenage fertility has been contested, especially by qualitative researchers who have demonstrated that early motherhood can be experienced positively. This research is discussed here, as are findings from a small-scale study in three English locations, where teenage mothers reported good experiences of parenthood. The discrepancy between these accounts of motherhood and policy is considered.

Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 171 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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