Intergenerational Ethics of Caring for Adolescent Mothers and Their Children

This study examined the teenagers transition to mothering as shaped by family caregiving practices. Conflicts over infant caregiving characterized families who demonstrated an ethic of adversarial care. In contrast families with a responsive ethic attended to the mother and baby without taking over and shared caregiving in a highly fluid manner. In articulating the experiential worlds of family members this study describes their situated possibilities as the basis for developing clinical practices that promote responsive caregiving. (authors)