Early motherhood
According to numerous researchers, the number of teen pregnancies between 15 and 19 appears to be growing compared to the 1990s. Besides, such scholars note that most of the women who have experienced early motherhood are twice likely to suffer from postpartum depression compared to women who are above twenty-five years. Ideally, the transition to becoming a parent tends to bring new challenges. Furthermore, early motherhood tends to be demanding since it occurs when one is experiencing healthy physical and mental development, which yields difficulties of transition from childhood to adulthood. Often, families with single mothers tend to face low-income issues and have less time with their children. Still, the effect of maternal vulnerability tends to impact not only their mental state and well-being but also a child’s well-being and development. Hence, this essay will seek to address the question, “Does early motherhood lead to academic, emotional, and mental issues?”
According to Rafferty et al. (Pg. 228), “the caregiving exercise of low-income teen mothers has been noted as one of the primary factors related to the poor development result among children. Therefore, compared to mature mothers, adolescent mothers tend to lack verbal expression, have lower levels of cognition needed in stimulating home, and have poor responsiveness to their child’s behavior. Still, they are less friendly and seem meddlesome and disengaged while associating with their kids, as they consistently show negative affection when interacting with the infants. In a statement by Rafferty et al. (2011), they note that readiness to parenthood tends to be operationalized in regards to socio-emotional development, cognitive development, or proper parenting practices (Pg. 229). But, according to numerous studies, it has been identified that adolescent mothers tend to be less knowledgeable on child development, they lack trust in their child-rearing capacities and show punitive child-rearing methods compared to adult mothers.
Further, Rafferty et al. (2011) note that teen mothers are prone to encounter more significant levels of child-rearing pressure contrasted with grown-up mothers. Besides, higher levels of depression are expected in adolescent mothers compared to adult mothers. Hence, such negative indices pertained to maternal well-being have been described to impact the mother-infant interactions and infant development. Still, teen mothers are also exposed to several family risk factors, inadequate economic and social support, and increased family conflict compared to adult mothers. Hence, this shows that early motherhood propels levels of mental issues.
On the contrary, the results attained by Boden et al. (2008), in their study on outcomes of early motherhood to subsequent life. The researchers identified that the association between mental health challenges and early motherhood tends to be non-casual. There is a reflection that those experiencing early parenthood are at risk of mental health challenges. But, the scholars note that their findings are cohort to the fact that early motherhood isn’t susceptible to mental health issues such as anxiety, suicidal thoughts, or depression. According to Boden et al. (2008), the aspect that needs to be considered when appraising such results is the high levels of abortion. Boden et al. (Pg. 158) note that young women who have aborted have higher chances of developing mental issues than those who are pregnant and aren’t looking forward to aborting. Therefore, this aspect of lack of conjecture develops the suggestion that there exists no association between early motherhood and later mental issues, the reason being it varies according to social context and the accessibility of abortion services.
Additionally, Boden et al. (2008) note that despite there being no evidence suggesting that adolescent pregnancy catalyzes mental health, there exists evidence suggesting early motherhood makes women become disadvantages. Notably, the results from this study showed that early mothers are expected to achieve lower educational achievement levels, are likely to be welfare-dependent, and have lower financial income than those who became pregnant after twenty-one years. Besides, the result also provides an apparent contention that the early transition to parenthood tends to offer greater disadvantaged to women who gave birth at an early age. Hence, the result attained from this study tends to reinforce concerns on the adverse effects associated with early motherhood (Boden et al., 2008). Still, the study identifies that women who became pregnant at an early age are likely to achieve lower academic achievements than those who became pregnant at adulthood. This explains why early motherhood tends to yield educational issues as it’s difficult for such women to attain education while still fulfilling their motherly roles.
Despite early motherhood yielding academic issues on adolescent mothers, it also tends to impact a child’s academic achievement. According to Cardona et al. (2012), numerous longitudinal studies have identified that children experiencing impairment in their cognitive, social, and emotional development tend to have poor cognitive academic performances. Cardona et al. (Pg. 296) note, “parental care has an essential role in the development of a child’s neural system during early and late infancy.” A parent’s ability to control behavior challenges propels secure attachments of a child’s behavior for preschooling. Further, the results from Cardona et al. (2012) showed that institutionalized children have impaired executive ability and are often followed by a shortage of emotion processing. Still, the scarcity in memory, operational functions, and attention may impact a child’s neural system. Considering that Rafferty et al. (2011) notes that teen mothers are likely to experience higher levels of parenting stress compared to adult mothers. It shows that early motherhood tends to have yield negative academic and emotional issues in children since adolescent mothers lack cognitive parenting abilities. Besides, as noted by Boden et al. (2008), early mothers tend to be economically disadvantaged, which means they would be absent in their parental roles. This increases the likelihood of a child being aggressive when interacting with peers and could also impact a child’s academic performance.
In the article written by Kenny (2000), he quotes, “an estimated a half or almost two-thirds of contracted marriages end in divorce.” Since contract marriages occur at a tender age, it stands out as a factor that leads to early motherhood. Since Kenny argues that half of these marriages end in divorce, it tends to yield emotional issues for children. According to Kenny (Pg. 228), divorce tends to be an unsettling experience that children face. Hence, children must deal with issues ranging from being abandoned to the insecurity that could lead to problems if not sufficiently handled. Considering that children perceive families as their support system and source of where bond and trust grow, divorce tends to present conflicts that could exacerbate a child’s development conflict. Therefore, after divorce, children lack a support system that could allow health growth and development. Also, they tend to lose their sense of security, school, friends, home, and most effects pertained to divorce predict conditions that existed before the divorce. This may create dysfunctional issues on a child’s emotions (Kenny, 2000). However, despite children’s retort to divorce varying based on age, past experiences, or development stage, typical reactions exist. The common responses that exist after a divorce include; depression, anger, anxiety, blame, and fear.
Further, Kenny (Pg. 229) notes that such children experience feelings of abandonment, hopelessness, rejection, and powerlessness. Still, they may suffer academically as their relationships with friends, teachers, or family decreases. Hence, the aspect of contracted marriages, which propels levels of early motherhood and later divorce, plays an essential role in increasing levels of academic, emotional, and mental problems.
According to Ci & Am (2016), patterns of social connection serve as parameters that tend to correlate with an individual’s quality of life. Thus, its development can be propelled using several factors which, based on numerous studies, are influenced by several factors such as the age of motherhood and variables on socio-demography. Notably, the study by Ci and Am (2016) identified that dysfunctional attachment tends to be high among adolescent mothers. This shows why early motherhood tends to yield negative emotions, poor academic achievements, and mental health issues. For instance, the results attained show that dysfunction attachment, which is high among teens, fails to secure a base that allows children to sufficiently learn, explore, and relate. The high dysfunctional attachments among teen mothers negatively impact a child’s psychological, development, physical, and behavioral well-being. Ci & Am (2016) also notes that dysfunctional attachment among teen mother yields the legacy of inadequate devotion which acts as a burden to the society, individuals, and public services. More so, teen mothers’ failure to provide sufficient attachment tends to be a primary factor in intergenerational parenting challenges, which predisposes children to crime, substance abuse, homelessness, or promiscuity.
In conclusion, this paper effectively answers the question of whether early motherhood propels levels of academic, mental, and emotional issues. From the above discussion, we have noted that such problems tend to be increased because of the different variables associated with teen motherhood. For instance, we have pointed out that the issue of dysfunctional attachments affects a child’s psychological, physical, and development issues, which could yield matters in a child’s later life. Still, it has been identified that teen mothers tend to be disadvantaged and could affect their academic achievement and impact their child’s neural system, which leads to a deficit in cognitive impairment of cognitive abilities. Also, we have identified that adolescent mothers lack parental cognitive skills when compared to adult mothers. Hence, teenage mothers may develop mental health issues such as depression or anxiety due to the existence of negative indices between adolescent mothers and infants. To sum up, it is vital to identify strategies that could be used in helping teenage mothers because of the challenges most face. Still, it would be appropriate to properly educate young girls on the need to avoid early pregnancies.