Development of Resilience in Teenage Mothers within Contextual Realities of Poor Rural South Africa. Issue 7 (10th November 2019) - Singh, Shakila
ABSTRACT: This article focuses on the ways in which teenage mothers develop strategies of resilience within the context of poverty in a rural setting in South Africa. It draws on conceptualizations that situate individual resilience within the social ecologies that individuals exist in, whilst simultaneously recognizing the limits of individual resilience within these social ecologies. Qualitative data were generated through in-depth interviews with 16 school-going teenage mothers. Findings show that while the negative outcomes of poverty within this rural community cannot be ignored, many teenage mothers reveal that they are agentic beings by demonstrating resilience in the face of prevailing adverse conditions.