Teenage mothers: who are they?
With Christophe Martail, psychologist-psychoanalyst in a maternal center and a children’s home with a social character.
About 16 minors become pregnant each year in France. This figure has fallen by more than a third since the 000s, thanks in particular to better information on contraception. Two thirds of them choose to terminate their pregnancy, a minority carry it to term. But who are these future mothers, barely out of childhood?
“There is no typical portrait of the teenage mother”
They are called Camille, Estelle, Laura or Fanny. They are 14, 15 or 18 years old and have one thing in common: they became mothers before being adults. Contrary to popular belief, their lives are not the same … Some are studying, others are not. Some chose to get pregnant, others discovered their pregnancy a few weeks before giving birth. Some come from disadvantaged families, others from wealthy backgrounds. “There is no typical portrait of the adolescent mother, confirms Christophe Martail, psychologist, but it is still very often young girls in conflict with their own parents.”
And the fathers throughout this ? Two-thirds, mostly adolescents as well, recognize the child, but not all of them stay with the mother to raise him! Some of these young couples continue their journey together, expand the family quickly, but leave more quickly too… “Today, at 26, I am divorced from the father of my 8-year-old daughter, and I have rebuilt my life. Having a child in adolescence also runs the risk of making a third person unhappy in the event of a break-up, ”says Laëtitia.