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Taming troubled teens: The social production of mental morbidity amongst young mothers in Pelotas, Brazil

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  • Béhague, D.P.
  • Gonçalves, H.D.
  • Gigante, D.
  • Kirkwood, B.R.

Abstract

Explanations for the association between teen-childbearing and subsequent mental morbidity vary considerably, from those based on neurological theories of development to those investigating underlying social and economic determinants. Based on longitudinal epidemiological and ethnographic sub-studies of the 1982 Pelotas birth cohort study, this paper explores the hypothesis that teen childbearing and subsequent mental morbidity have become associated through the interplay of culture, society, and biology in situations where teen pregnancy has become a stigmatised object of scientific and public health attention. Results show that the effect of teen childbearing on subsequent mental morbidity remained significant in the multivariate analysis. Ethnographic analysis, together with epidemiological effect modification analyses, suggest that this association is partially accounted for by the fact that it is more pronounced amongst a specific subgroup of women of low socio-economic status who, being more politicised about societal injustice, were also more critically engaged with – and thus troubled by – the inequitable institutionalisation of life-cycle transitions. With time, these women became highly critical of the institutionalised identification of early childbearing as a key violation of life-cycle norms and the differential class-based application of scientific knowledge on its causes and consequences. Public health campaigns should consider how the age-based institutionalisation of developmental norms has enabled the stigmatisation of those identified as transgressors.

Suggested Citation

  • Béhague, D.P. & Gonçalves, H.D. & Gigante, D. & Kirkwood, B.R., 2012. "Taming troubled teens: The social production of mental morbidity amongst young mothers in Pelotas, Brazil," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 434-443.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:74:y:2012:i:3:p:434-443
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.10.014
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Geronimus, Arline T., 2003. "Damned if you do: culture, identity, privilege, and teenage childbearing in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(5), pages 881-893, September.
    2. Whitley, Rob & Kirmayer, Laurence J., 2008. "Perceived stigmatisation of young mothers: An exploratory study of psychological and social experience," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 339-348, January.
    3. Dressler, William W. & Balieiro, Mauro C. & Ribeiro, Rosane P. & dos Santos, Jose E., 2007. "A prospective study of cultural consonance and depressive symptoms in urban Brazil," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(10), pages 2058-2069, November.
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