Psychological and socio-economic challenges faced by teen fathers: A narrative review

Abstract

Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study was to explore the psychological and socio-economic challenges faced by teen fathers. Methodology: This was a narrative literature review study, wherein researchers relied on secondary data from peer-reviewed published articles. Published articles were purposively sampled from different search engines such as Google scholar, South African National ETD portal, Jstor, Sabinet and EBSCOhost. The selection criteria were also determined by restricted data from the year 2003 to 2020 with a 17 years’ projection. The collected data was analysed thematically. Main Findings: The study found that teenage boys are not immune to the challenges of parenthood. More like their counterparts, teen fathers experience psychological and socio-economic challenges as far as parenthood is concerned. Application of the study: The lack of research on teen fathers creates an imbalance and leads people into believing that only teen mothers experience parenthood challenges. However, this study underpins that due to the lack of research on teen fathers, teen fathers experience various social ills such as stealing and dropping out of school due to the challenge of parenthood.  Novelty/Originality of the study: This study contributes positively to the arena of social service and assists social workers with guidelines to address teen fatherhood. By the virtue of their educational background, social workers can advocate for voiceless teen fathers and challenge the imbalances that invade their dignity and manhood.