Complex lives: young motherhood, homelessness and partner relationships

Abstract

Research has focused on identifying commonalities amongst women who give birth whilst young. This article, which reports on how young mothers experience and understand their relationships with the fathers of their children, seeks to convey the heterogeneity of young mothers and their lives. It draws upon interviews with 24 young women who experienced motherhood within the context of homelessness in Australia. For some, motherhood had preceded, or indeed provoked, homelessness; for others pregnancy had occurred during, or subsequent to, a period of homelessness. This article explores the ways in which partner relationships intersected with the experience of motherhood. The interviews highlighted the diverse and shifting nature of young women’s relationships with the fathers of their children and demonstrated that categorizing young mothers as single or partnered obscures the more complex reality of lived experience. Expectations of partners varied greatly. Most of the young mothers grew up in single parent households and some regarded partners as extraneous. A key feature of many of the young mothers’ stories was that of ‘growing up’ and fulfilling the responsibilities of parenthood. The fathers were similarly expected to take on the role of fatherhood. For several young women, motherhood was associated with a newfound sense of agency and independence which impacted on their existing relationships and their views about relationships in the future.