Adolescent Parents’ Intersecting Identities and Experiences: A Qualitative Examination of Adolescents’, Grandparents’, and School Staff’s Perspectives

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the multiple and intersecting identities adolescent parents manage, and the social supports and constraints that inform their adjustment. Adolescents (n = 13; 70% cisgender women; 100% Latinx; Mage = 19.37, SD = 0.92) who became parents between the ages of 14–18, their parents (n = 17; 82% cisgender women; 94% Latinx), and school staff (n = 7; 100% cisgender women; 71% White) provided triangulating information on adolescent parents’ experiences. Using focus group methodology and Qual-to-Qual coding techniques, we found that adolescents inhabit intersecting social identities based on their parenting status, adolescence/youth, student role, child/family role, and gender. These intersecting social identities informed the social and developmental contexts that adolescents navigated, which were experienced as promotive or inhibiting environments. Adolescents described the demands to be engaged in multigenerational familial contexts (e.g., large coparenting teams, power differentials between adolescents and their parents), their exposure to stereotypes, assumptions, and discrimination based on their intersecting identities, and the high social demands/resources imposed on them by family and school supports. These experiences led to contextualized outcomes, such as an increase in growth and maturity. The participants often described their experiences as both stressors and sources of support; therefore, we discuss the duality of these experiences and the implications for future interventions.