Early Childbearing and Educational Attainment Among Mainland Puerto Rican Teens

Abstract

We report the results of a study about how early childbearing affected the educational trajectories of nine Puerto Rican teenage mothers living in New England. Raised largely on the mainland, participants chose to carry pregnancies to term and to participate in a parenting program for young mothers. Upon examination of shared meaning-making around childbearing, we found that, consistently, childbearing activated a family building script as the main task of motherhood. The pursuit of education as a developmental script was less consistent. We identified three approaches to reconciling the competing tasks of family building and educational attainment. “Successful jugglers” managed to do both, and even work at the same time. “Prioritizers” chose motherhood over education, either before or after childbearing. The two participants who did not follow a clear trajectory also happened to be the youngest in the study. Key factors contributing to each trajectory are presented.