Perspectives of Women

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe adolescent fatherhood from the perspectives of these young men's mothers. Design: A descriptive qualitative design was chosen because of the exploratory nature of this study. Methods: Data collection and analysis were guided by naturalistic inquiry that permits theory to emerge from the data. The data were collected during a 1-hour focus group interview performed at a public high school located proximal to a large public housing project in a large Midwestern city. Five mothers of adolescent fathers were recruited from a variety of sources using a modified snowball approach. Results: The seven major themes that emerged from the data were: barriers to fatherhood, value of fatherhood, transition to fatherhood, competencies of fatherhood, role-set relationships, social norms of fatherhood, and father-child contact. These women indicated that they felt their sons' youth influenced every aspect of the fatherhood experiences. Clinical implications: Nurses who work with adolescent parents are ideally situated to encourage the support of adolescent fathers and their families. Future research should identify methods useful for supporting or discouraging paternal involvement of adolescent fathers, and effective intervention strategies for adolescent fathers and their families.