Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106462

Christine A. Stevens, MPH, PHD, RN, Nursing, University of Washington, Tacoma, 3849 N. Bristol St., Tacoma, WA 98407, 253-312-8689, cstevens@u.washington.edu

Adolescent women who are mothers: Negotiating the socioeconomic environment.

Research on adolescent mothers has examined how education, income and employment have an effect on the socioeconomic context of their lives. Research has also indicated that these issues are mediated in various ethnic groups by the impact of daily institutional and interpersonal racism. Though race is a constructed category, it has very real consequences in the lives of adolescent parenting mothers. In this study of diverse parenting adolescent women, how others identified them affected these mothers in terms of individual support from families, positioning for jobs, health, and housing. The conversation about how the young women are positioned based on how they look explores the conversation about how race is constructed in the US and how this construction affects socioeconomic issues and health. The purpose of this critical ethnography was to explore how adolescent women who are parenting negotiate the relationship between their socioeconomic context and their own health. Photovoice, which utilizes photographs produced and interpreted by the participants, was used n addition to the traditional ethnographic methods of interviewing, and participant observation. The sample (N=18) consisted of young women, 15- 21 years of age, parenting and living with child. The young women clearly linked the issue of how the social construction of race was used by others to influence the young mothers' economic survival and health.

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of the session, participants will be able to list two reasons that the adolescent mothers give for race/ethnicity influencing their socioeconomic status.
• At the end of the session, participants will be able to discuss strategies that adolescent mothers use to negotiate their socioeconomic environment
• At the end of the session, the participant will be able to discuss strategies public health nurses can use to address the health disparities related to daily racism encountered by adolescent mothers.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Physical Activity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.