Krystal Cooper

Group Four
Due Date: 9/8/14
Prewriting Assignment
The topic I have chosen for my Inquiry Project is The identity of mothers before and
after children. I feel like this would be a compelling topic to write about because you often hear
mothers say before I had kids... and proceed to explain how life was before children and how it
may differ. My goal for this paper is write about those differences and discuss whether or not
mothers should neglect certain things, people, or activities from their previous lifestyle. I believe
that I will be able to research a great deal of information and I could also interview current
mothers to get credible input. Below are ideas that I have listed for possible topics of discussion:

The maturity level of a women before and after children

How a mothers viewpoints of life changes

Actions change/develop a mothers instinct

How a mothers schedule changes from doing thing her way to a schedule revolving
around her child

Activities and the people she surrounds herself with

The bond that exist between the child and herself

Level of responsibility increases

How she handles bringing new life into the world

Respect towards certain matters in life may change

Krystal Cooper
9/22/2014
The Proposal
I have chosen to discuss The Identity of Teen Moms in Todays Society. I
chose this topic because I feel that it is something that happens a lot and is usually looked
down upon, its also something teen moms tend to hide because they dont feel
comfortable enough to talk about it, and Teen pregnancy and the identity of those
mothers arent typically the topic of discussion. My goal is to find out more about this
touchy subject by doing research and gathering facts to answer some of the following
questions:
1.

How are teen moms that are in High School different from those out of school?

2.

How do teen moms social life differ from pre-pregnancy?

3.

What is the social conflict with teen moms and how does it affect their identity?

4.

Does race or culture affect the identity of a teen mom?

5.

What race is prone to becoming pregnant at an earlier age?

6.

What percentage of teen moms chose adoption or abortion and why?

7.

Teen pregnancy makes it harder for teen moms to continue with their education.

8.

Some teen moms struggle financially because of a lack of support.

9.

What is the likely hood of teen moms becoming successful and overcome

challenges?
10.

How does teen pregnancy affect the relationship with the teen moms family?

Out of these ten questions I will put most of my focus into the social conflict of teen
moms, and how that affects their identity. I will gather the answers to these question from

interviews, teen mom documentaries, statistical facts, scholarly research, journals, and
blogs. The questions that I may find myself having difficulty finding answers to are the
likely hood of teen moms becoming successful and overcoming challenges, the difference
of teen moms in high school vs. those who are out of school, and how teen pregnancy
affects the relationship with the teen moms family. If my focal point is too numerous I
will narrow my topic to the percentage of teen moms that choose adoption or abortion
and why? On the other hand if I cannot find enough information on the social conflict I
will combine it with another question making it more of a cause and effect situation like
because this happened to the teen mom, this will be the result.

Krystal Cooper
Professor Carty
English
13 October 2014
Annotated Bibliography
Caldas, Stephen J. Teenage Pregnancy: Why It Remains a Serious Social, Economic,
and
Educational Problem in the U.S. Phi Delta Kappan International 75.5 (1994):
402-406.
Print.
The Article Teenage Pregnancy: Why It Remains a Serious Social, Economic, and
Educational Problem in the U.S. speaks on teenage pregnancy and mainly how it affects
the mother from a social stand point, economically, and educationally. Throughout the
article Caldas supports his claims by giving factual information and listing statics such as
60% of teen families live in poverty. Caldas speaks on how the mother ma face
challenges in the economy because of a lack of support and financially, emotionally, etc.
He ends this four page excerpt on teenage pregnancy by discussing how their pregnancy
may lead to high school dropouts, and how that may not be the case for some.
This article is relevant for my inquiry project because it gives factual information about
my topic and gives examples of teenage pregnancy and how it can ultimately affect the
identity of a teenage mother. I also found it interesting how the article only had the point
of view from an outsider looking in and how they view teen moms, in contrast to some of

my other sources which involve an actual teenage mother and how she views herself in a
social, economic, and educational sense.
I know this information is credible by the information being provided, the
professionalism, and it came from a published magazine. The article also list its sources
and where the author found his statistics to show that its not all opinionated.
Mckinnie, Jhade. Personal Interview. 5 October 2014.
During my personal interview with Jhade I asked her questions centered around what its
like to be a teenage mother, what challenges does she face, and how being teenage
mother changed her identity from before she was pregnant as a normal teenager. She
gave me a lot of feedback on what her life was like before her child and what its like
now. Some of the things she told me was; its much harder because its like I was forced
to grow up really fast and obtain adult responsibilities, some of my dreams changed
like going off to a University and living the life of your typical 19 year old girl, instead
Im at home commuting to a community college, On a positive note I feel like I can do
or accomplish anything and before that wasnt the case, having a baby completely
changed my perception of life its a beautiful thing. She also mentioned how she feels
like people view her differently and have tried to distance themselves after she became
pregnant.
This interview with McKinne was very relevant and I noticed myself how much she has
matured post pregnancy. A lot of the information she shared gave me a different outlook
for my writing because it contradicted some of what most society thinks and feels about
teenage motherhood including what some of my sources stated. Its also important

because its not often that we hear the point of view directly from a teen mom and how
she identifies herself.
By this being a personal interview coming from someone Ive known for a while makes
this information very credible. Its first hand and involves true feelings, emotions,
statements, and views, of a teenage mom.
Teen Moms. MTV. 2008. Television.
The television series Teen Mom that comes on MTV started off as 16 & pregnant and it
is basically a documentary that talks about the lives of teen moms, some who are more
fortunate than others. This shows allows the viewers to see what the mother was like
before their pregnancy, during, and afterwards, by letting us get the inside scoop on their
lives. It shows the struggles that these mothers face and how some of their lives and
identities do a complete 360. The girls shown in this series are normal teenage girls who
end up pregnant and realize having a baby is not always fun and games.
This television Series gives two different viewpoints on teen mothers and their identities.
One would be how the media portrays them and the second would be what the viewers at
home watching interpret of what they take away from the film. By looking at what the
mother goes through and hearing them discuss their hobbies, dreams, goals, and plans to
hearing them change because of a baby can be heartbreaking. There is a specific episode
where the young lady was a cheerleader in high school and competitively and suddenly
her life change when she became pregnant. She had to stop cheering and mentioned that
she was becoming fat and basically didnt know who she was without cheerleading being
a part of her life.

This source is credible because it airs on national television and on the television program
MTV. We are also again we are getting to see the inside scoop directly from the teenage
mothers. There are even doctors that air on this show that speak specifically on topics
ranging from pregnancy problems, baby growth, and the emotional effect on the mother.
Males, Mike. Schools, Society, and Teen Pregnancy. The Phi Delta Kappan 74.7
(1993):
556-568. Print.
The article title Schools, Society, and Teen Pregnancy is pretty self-explanatory and
the title alone is what the article is about. One of the main points this article made was
how schools should try to expand their educational opportunity about teen pregnancy, the
risk factors, protection, and abstinence to prevent teen pregnancy. Males also talks about
how society has a perceived image of teen moms their opinion of it, some of which have
a negative view and some that you may consider to be positive.
This article is relevant because we often wonder if teen moms were ever educated on how
to prevent teen pregnancy and it speaks volumes on ways to put this in action. It also
gives us insight on how society really views teen pregnancy which could affect a teen
moms identity. This article list factual information and supports them all by listing their
sources. Its also a published magazine.
Bunting, Lisa and McAuley, Colette. Research Reviews: Teenage Pregnancy and
parenthood:
The role of fathers. Child & Family Social Work 9.3 (2004): 295-303. Print.
This article entitled Research Reviews: Teenage Pregnancy and parenthood: the role of
fathers is based on the fathers side of the story and how they deal with the pregnancy

and being a teenage father. Bunting and McAuley speak on the difficulties and challenges
that these young men face such as a lack of support from family and low income to help
support the child even when they are willing and want to do so. They also talk about how
they change as a person just like mothers do whether that me maturing, depression, or the
use of illegal substances. In the article it talks about how the father usually wants to be a
part of and involved with the baby but the underlying issue is usually between him and
the mother.
This article is very important because most of the attention is drawn to the mother and the
pregnancy and having a baby only affects her. Its really important to realize that thats
not the case and that the fathers life changes just as much as the mother as well as his
identity. I will bring this into my paper so that I can talk about both parents and how
much it can change both of them.
This is a scholarly article and came from a reliable source