In many traditional cultures, people don’t celebrate pregnancy. Too much is uncertain, too much can go wrong. So people are cautious, adopting a “wait and see” attitude.
It’s different in the modern West. Pregnant women get a cheerful (if intrusive) reception from strangers. Being pregnant is cool.
Unless you look too young. Then you get stigmatized. You’re immature, irresponsible, and probably inept. Your child is going to end up badly. And it’s your fault.
Several readers commented on the problem in my last post. Like Kathryn, who is married, working, and pregnant with her first child. She’s not looking forward to the public reaction to her pregnancy. Why?
“I still look like a teenager. At work people always give me weird looks and ask how old I am when they see my [wedding] ring. I’m not showing that obviously yet but I am dreading when people are going to start noticing that the person taking their order has a belly and looks 15. I wish I could just wear a t-shirt everyday that says, ‘This is not a teen pregnancy!’”
It’s the sort of smug, know-it-all stereotyping that gives me a rash. Not only am I annoyed by the stigmatization of someone who looks like a teen mother. I’m annoyed by the stigmatization of someone who is a teen mother.
I’m not suggesting that society should encourage teen pregnancy. When girls get pregnant too young—particularly before the age of 18–it can harm their health and the health of their babies. Then there are the problems of raising a child. Many teenagers lack social and economic support. And obviously there are immature, irresponsible teenagers.
But what about mature teenagers? Teenagers who have the support, motivation, and emotional resources to have a child? Some teens are more mature than people twice their age.
As I noted in my last post, hunter-gatherers routinely give birth to their first babies when they are 18 or 19. Are mature, committed young women in this age group such a bad risk?
I doubt it. In a study recently published by the Journal Pediatrics, Catherine R. Chittleborough and colleagues tracked thousands of children from infancy to age 5, and asked what impact their mothers’ age had on development. The researchers also examined other factors, including maternal education, financial difficulties, partner status, smoking, and depression.
How did it go? Being a young mother was not a big predictor of development problems. Not by itself. It was the other factors that made a big difference. The implications for social policy?
“Even if programs targeted at teen-aged mothers are successful in improving child development, they will have little impact on population levels of poor child development if young maternal age is the sole or main means of identifying eligibility for the program” (emphasis mine).
Meanwhile, we have young mothers facing social stigma, which is no help at all. Social disapproval and stigmatization creates stress, which impairs a person’s health. We know that. It’s one of the main reasons why racial minorities and people of low socioeconomic status suffer poorer health outcomes.
Can we stop judging young mothers on sight? Lumping together all teen parents as reckless and childish? That would be nice. It might even make life a little better for their children.