Gravidez na adolescência: análise das significações construídas ao longo de gerações de mulheres

Abstract

In the last few decades, teen pregnancy has become a relevant research theme in Brazil. This thesis considers psycho-social meanings constructed along generations of women concerning so-called precocious pregnancy. Based on generation theories, this study was developed through interviews carried out with women from three different generations: great-grandmothers, considered part of the forerunning generation; young grandmothers, identified with the revolutionary generation; and adolescent-mothers, seen as part of the generation which reacted to the prior ones. The data were handled from a social and historic perspective, there by permitting the comprehension of the distinctions between a crystallized conception of pregnancy in adolescence as a problem, and the new meanings constructed by the young mothers and their familiesconcerning their pregnancy. Relations between generations were taken into account in the light of family links established between great-grandmothers, young grandmothers, adolescent mothers and their children. Emphasis was mainly given to the positive meanings constructed by young grandmothers and teenage mothers, in order to demonstrate that this cannot be reduced to one single meaning, that of being a problem. The deconstruction of this single meaning aims at formulating a discussion on the common and often prejudiced view of pregnancy in adolescents