Early motherhood: A turning point in the complex lives of young mothers

Young mothers’ stories of motherhood are often invisible within the broader contexts of society, and young mothers may themselves be negatively affected by and unable to resist dominant cultural narratives circulated about them. Early motherhood manifests itself as a problem and social concern in academic literature policy and public discourses (Arai; Breheny and Stephens). Much of it invariably details the negative outcomes faced by young mothers, including poor parenting skills, health issues, welfare dependency, and lower educational attainment with little opportunity for future employability, which exacerbates their likelihood of living in poverty (Keegan and Corliss). Community judgment invariably considers young