Native American Navajo Teenage Parenting Women, Cross-Generational Support and Implications for Policy.

This study examined teenage parenting among Native Americans, focusing on the support received from grandmothers. The sample was comprised of 15 subjects living on a Navajo reservation: 8 adolescent mothers between 16 to 19 years--most with one child and enrolled either in high school or in an alternative education program; and seven women comprising the grandmother generation, ranging in age from 41 to 57 years. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Interviews with the young women focused on social support systems, types of support, and interpersonal conflict. Interviews with the grandmothers focused on their perceptions of their role in their daughter's and grandchildren's lives, and characteristics influencing their ability or willingness to support their daughters. Results identified three groups, based on the amount of support provided by grandmothers. Highly supportive grandmothers, the largest group, provided extensive financial and child care support, but did not wish to be primary caregivers; two grandmothers were surrogate parents and assumed primary maternal responsibility. Two nonsupportive grandmothers provided no financial, emotional, or child rearing support and had limited or no contact with their daughters or grandchildren. Three factors were related to variability in the amount of grandmother support: (1) relationship history with their daughters; (2) roles and responsibilities, other than maternity, in which they were involved; and (3) their daughters' maternal competence and involvement. (Contains 15 references.) (KDFB)