Social construction of meanings about pregnancymotherhood among adolescents

Abstract

This study aimed to comprehend the social construction of meanings about pregnancy-motherhood among pregnant adolescents. An explicative study, conducted in 2014, with 12 adolescents, using individual and group interview, local context observation, consultation of documents and precepts of Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis. The meaning of compatibility between pregnancy and adolescence was found, and the contraposition to the dominant discourse of adolescent pregnancy as a problem. The event answered that to which teenagers projected for themselves, in a restricted context of social opportunities. They valued it as a social ideal of maternity and family constitution, foreseeing social recognition, evidence of femininity and greater power and autonomy. However, these gains showed themselves crossed by difficulties seen, such as confronting the family evaluation and the “painful” parity. The comprehension contextualized of these meanings and of the social and ideological content is essential to the development of a higher degree of autonomy-accountability of adolescents.