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Cultural Meanings of Mothering for African American Adolescent Mothers: Through Their Own Eyes!

Dole, Debora M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1258667415

Abstract Details

2009, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Nursing: Nursing - Doctoral Program.
Nationally, African American babies die at twice the rate of their Caucasian counterparts - 14.1/1000 versus 6.9/1000 for the 2004 reporting period (CDC, 2005). African American babies in Hamilton County, Ohio died at nearly three times (17.8/1000) the national rate of Caucasian babies (6.9/1000) (CDC, 2005; Ohio Department of Health, 2004). While the majority of infant deaths are due to causes such as prematurity, low birth weight and congenital anomalies, thirty percent of those African American infant deaths are due to preventable accidents, neglect and abuse (Every Child Succeeds, 2004; Children’s Bureau, 2007). Infants born to adolescent mothers are at increased risk of death due to neglect and abuse as compared to babies born to their older counterparts (CDC, 2004; Mathews & MacDorman, 2007)). The alarming disparity in infant mortality has remained unchanged despite national and local efforts to develop program interventions that focus on parenting deficits. Mothering practices of African American women have been affected by social, political, race and gender issues that have altered the ways in which cultural practices are transferred generationally. Traditional biomedical research has focused on the African American adolescent mother as pathologic in her ability to parent effectively. Traditional approaches have failed to consider the effects of the alteration in generational transfer of traditional mothering practices. This study explored the cultural meanings of mothering of nine African American adolescent mothers using Photovoice, a participatory research methodology in which participants were given cameras to document their own experiences. This study explored adolescent mothering from the inside out revealing how cultural mothering practices are being transferred generationally. An intersectional approach using an integrated conceptual framework including critical feminist theory, critical social theory and critical race theory provided theoretical support for exploring mothering practices through the socially constructed concepts of gender, class and race. The approach and process itself provided participants with a forum to identify and share their own cultural strengths and positive mothering practices with each other. Themes of building a network, seeing the future and sharing responsibilities emerged as an avenue for the intra-generational transfer of positive mothering practices. Insight gained from this study will result in new and innovative approaches that will guide researchers in conducting community based participatory inquiry designed to assist communities in identifying their own existing cultural strengths. Community health professionals in partnership with African American communities can then build on those strengths to develop useful and relevant strategies that support adolescent mothers and their infants in an effort to reduce the disparity in infant mortality.
Donna Shambley-Ebron, PhD (Committee Chair)
Lisa Vaughn, PhD (Committee Member)
Mary Brydon-Miller, PhD (Committee Member)
135 p.
Nursing
Mothering; Culture; Adolescent; African American; Photovoice; Participatory action research

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Dole, D. M. (2009). Cultural Meanings of Mothering for African American Adolescent Mothers: Through Their Own Eyes! [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1258667415

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Dole, Debora. Cultural Meanings of Mothering for African American Adolescent Mothers: Through Their Own Eyes! 2009. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1258667415.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Dole, Debora. "Cultural Meanings of Mothering for African American Adolescent Mothers: Through Their Own Eyes!" Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1258667415

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1258667415
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© 2009, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.