Page - 200 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

200 Lost by the wayside – overstepping limits case, arguably a significant burden). One possible reaction on the baby’s part would be to be very well -behaved, sleeping a lot and being “easy” to care for, in order to unburden the mother. Claudia recognizes that she is often at the brink of her capacities. She often has guilt feelings, since she sees Moni so seldom and has to give her up to the care of various other people. Claudia and Tom idealize their relationship – no doubt is allowed. One might ask how realistically they see one another. At the same time, they seem to have developed a close and trusting relationship to one another through the difficulties they have battled together. Claudia is very glad that Tom was present at the birth and supported her. Claudia’s school, and particularly her strict supervisory teacher, recognized the urgency of the problems, and he supported Claudia whole -heartedly. He asked her to talk about her pregnancy in front of the class, and the class’ positive reac- tion and full readiness to help showed that his idea bore fruit. Instead of unsta- ble rumor, Claudia could openly discuss her pregnancy and then accept the help offered by her fellow students, including visits to the hospital, babysitting, etc. In fact, Claudia became a better student than she had been before her pregnancy. Closing remarks In the families of teenage mothers – not only in these case studies, but world- wide – there is practically no discussion of birth control methods, because it embarrasses not only the parents but also the children (Crockett et al. 2003). Factual sex education extends the adolescent’s knowledge but is not relevant for actual contraception. The life chances of these adolescent girls and boys are more limited and risky than for their peers. Most teenage pregnancies occur in economically disadvan- taged families. The chance of finishing school is only half that of other adoles- cents; teenage mothers have fewer chances for higher education and obtaining a job than other adolescents from the same social background (Miller et al. 2003). Their chances of marrying are less, and the probability of divorce considerably greater (Moore and Brook -Gunn 2002). In an 18 -year study (1966–84) conducted by Furstenberg et al. (1987) in the US, however, the results were more promising. After 18 years, the life situations of teenage mothers were surprisingly various: only one -quarter of the mothers were on welfare. Another quarter had achieved higher education and had suc- cessful job experiences. A majority of the mothers had finished secondary school; one -third had an academic education and had married. In the three case studies I have described, all three teenage mothers aimed to pass their final exams at secondary school and planned to begin university study as soon as their child entered kindergarten. Massive controversies with the parents centered on keeping the baby or having an abortion. It seemed that parental support had fostered a new kind of relation- ship between adolescents and their parents.