Rini-Labrecque, Girolima - 1979 -

A study of the interpersonal aspects of the personality of adolescent unwedmothers as compared to her peers.

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the Master's Degree in Psychology (M.A. Psy).

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

This study has been concerned with exploring interpersonal aspects of personality of the pregnant adolescent as compared to a peer group of girls who are not pregnant, at different age levels, and to determine, within the limits of an ex post facto study, if any difference can be established between the two groups of girls.

The Terci was administered to a group of 65 pregnant adolescents, and 66 adolescents of the same ages who were not pregnant.

From the information obtained, it was established that the pregnant adolescent sees herself as being no different in character from the adolescent who is not pregnant; she does, however, perceive herself as occupying a role in which she is friendlier and easier to get along with.

Within her family, the pregnant adolescent qualifies her parents' relationship as more rigid and extreme than does the adolescent who is not pregnant, the father dominating the mother. Outside the family, the subject experiences a relationship with her partner not unlike that of the parents. Where she differs from the adolescent who is not pregnant, is that she attributes many cool, even hostile dominating traits to the father of her child while maintaining the perception of herself as amiable, friendly, and docile.

All adolescents tend to imitate and identify with the mother; however, a conflict exists between the pregnant adolescent and her mother possibly because of the girl's pregnancy, raising the cost of the relationship to uncomfortable proportions, something the adolescent who is not pregnant does not experience with her mother.

Age is an important factor in determining how the girls perceive the mother character. Older pregnant girls see the mother character as very pronounced; young girls who are not pregnant see the mother character as less pronounced.

Age and pregnancy in interaction in this study influence the idea a subject has of herself and her interpersonal relationships. The older a pregnant subject is, the more pronounced are the differences of perception from that of her peers.

It becomes apparent from this study that the information obtained by means of the Terci can be a valuable instrument as it brings forth important differences because of age and pregnancy in the subjects, information which can be put to good use when called upon to work with the pregnant 65 adolescent.

However, the absence of conclusive evidence with the indexes of satisfaction and dependence and the attitude towards change, merits future investigation, as empirical observation suggests that these concepts are, more often than not, implicit in any interpersonal relationship. Unfortunately, these concepts are strongly influenced by other factors or the context in which they are experienced, thus making it difficult to isolate them for scientific research.

It would also be of interest to pursue the areas of role and relationship. ln this study, three role variables were found to be significantly different between groups, but only one these (the father's dominance) was evidenced ln a relationship that was significantly different between groups (the father-mother relationship). lt would be of great value to know if the concepts role and relationship, as defined in this study, are in fact interdependent.

Also of interest would be a similar research using a group of married women during their first pregnancy as compared to a group of pregnant adolescents. By opposing the findings of that study to the present study, the importance of the pregnancy factor could be evaluated with more accuracy.