Chinese Adolescent Mothers Online: Self Presentation Strategies on Short-Video Social Media Platform to Mitigate Stigmatization

Abstract Adolescent motherhood in China remains a deeply stigmatized identity that is shaped by cultural, political, and moral discourses. While rates of adolescent pregnancy have risen, state narratives around human capital development, the suzhi (population quality) discourse, and idealized motherhood continue to construct early pregnancy and motherhood as a deviation as moral and developmental failure. Drawing on historical, sociopolitical, and theoretical frameworks, including Confucian familial ideologies, population planning policies, and Goffman's dramaturgical and stigma theories, this thesis explores how adolescent mothers navigate stigma and reconstruct their identity through digital self-presentation on Kuaishou, one of China's most popular short-video social media platforms. The study combines digital ethnography and discourse analysis to examine 104 Kuaishou user accounts belonging to adolescent mothers aged between 15 to 24. Data includes 883 screenshots of visual posts and 541 screenshots of comment section interactions. Three primary strategies of stigma management emerged: (1) crating a "Good Mother" identity centered on love, sacrifice, and resilience: traits that align with socially accepted narratives of motherhood; (2) framing motherhood as a transformative journey of emotional and personal growth; and (3) more direct rejection of stigma through claiming authenticity, confession, and public declarations of marital legitimacy. These strategies reflect personal agency and culturally grounded performances that respond to the stigmatizing factors of suzhi discourse, Confucian morality, and neoliberal parenting ideals. The audience receptions are varied, with many users offering encouragement and micro-affirmations; others express judgement that is affected by the suzhi discourse and normative life trajectories, illustrating how stigma is reproduced and challenged in digital space. The study contributes to research on digital motherhood, youth culture, and stigma in contemporary China by exploring how marginalized young women use social media to resist cultural exclusion. It also demonstrates the utility of digital ethnography in accessing underrepresented narratives. Despite limitations such as reliance on publicly available data from a single platform, the findings suggest that digital spaces like Kuaishou can serve as a site of agency, identity negotiation, and moral redefinition for stigmatized youth.