Parenting aspirations of Australian young people who have experienced adversity: 'I'll work on everything else before working on having a kid'
Date
2023
Authors
McDougall, S.
Moore, T.
Cox, S.
Arney, F.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Children and Youth Services Review, 2023; 145(106715):1-10
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
Only a limited number of studies have sought to examine the parenting attitudes and aspirations of young people who have experienced abuse, neglect, and childhood adversity and who are not yet pregnant or parenting. Given the dearth of literature on this topic, this study explores the attitudes and aspirations relating to pregnancy and parenthood among South Australian young people who have experienced abuse, neglect, or childhood adversity.
A total of fifteen young people (8 male and 7 female) were recruited from a variety of services that may be serving young people with experiences of abuse, neglect, or early adversity. Young people took part in a semi-structured interview exploring their attitudes and aspirations regarding relationships, pregnancy, and parenthood.
Young people discussed whether they would like to be parents, and some of the goals and aspirations that they would like to achieve beforehand. The reasons why young people wanted to be parents later in life and achieve these goals first were categories into three interrelated groups: they wanted to enjoy their youth and succeed in education or employment, they wanted to address their own personal difficulties and challenges first or they wanted to be prepared and be in the best position possible to meet the needs of their future children.
While most of the sample were not planning on becoming parents before they turned 25, all aspired to have children at some point. Young people’s aspirations towards younger parenthood were varied and often shaped by their childhood experiences and current circumstances. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.
School/Discipline
Dissertation Note
Provenance
Description
Access Status
Rights
Copyright 2023 Published by Elsevier