Living Without a Strong Father Figure: A Contextual Feature of the Experience of Having Become Sexually Active for Teen Mothers

<table><tr><td colspan="2" class="item-title">Living Without a Strong Father Figure: A Contextual Feature of the Experience of Having Become Sexually Active for Teen Mothers</td></tr><tr class="item-sponsor"><td class="label">Conference Sponsor:</td><td class="value">Midwest Nursing Research Society</td></tr><tr class="item-year"><td class="label">Conference Year:</td><td class="value">2007</td></tr><tr class="item-author"><td class="label">Author:</td><td class="value">Burns, Vicki, PhD</td></tr><tr class="item-institute"><td class="label">P.I. Institution Name:</td><td class="value">University of Louisville</td></tr><tr class="item-address"><td class="label">Contact Address:</td><td class="value">Nursing, 4222 Alton Road, Louisville, KY, 40207, USA</td></tr><tr class="item-email"><td class="label">Email:</td><td class="value">burnsvicki@yahoo.com</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="item-abstract">The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe teen mothers' experience of having become sexually active and the context in which that experience took place. In addition to the overarching phenomena of an experience, some phenomena emerge as contextual to that experience. In descriptive phenomenology, context is considered a vital data source. Prior to data-gathering, literature about teen sexual behavior was reviewed and set aside to enable a more direct focus on data. Parental consent for participation was obtained for participants under 18. Of the 10 participants (aged 16 to 19 years), all had at least one living child. Each participant took part in three audio-taped interviews. From the data, one feature that was discerned as contextual to the participants' experiences was living without a strong father figure. Prior literature has suggested that adolescent girls with absent fathers may be more likely to initiate sexual behavior earlier than their peers; however, findings from this study are suggestive that the absence of a strong bond with a father or father figure, regardless of physical presence, may be an important factor in teen sexual behavior. As such, the data could have implications for both early identification of teens at risk and for programs designed to prevent early-onset sexual activity. Key Words: Adolescence, Sexual Behavior, Phenomenology</td></tr></table>