Social representations of teenagers with their first-born child on maternal care to newborns

This qualitative study aimed to analyze the social representation of teenagers who had their first child and about maternal care to newborns in the home environment. Participants were eight teenagers with their newborns. Data were collected at their homes by means of projective techniques and semi-structured interviews. Analysis was based on social representation theory, demonstrating that the teenagers represent maternal care in figurative centers of affection, family integration and maternal fulfillment. The maternal care is symbolically anchored in the appearance of a family, in the continuum of feelings and in the commitment to the psychomotor progress of the child. The teenagers who had their first child gave more value to belonging to a family than to the losses resulting from early motherhood. Maternal care is a conflictive exercise. On the one hand, it represents the status of being an adult and responsible but, on the other, it marks insecurity, lack of preparation and immaturity, which affect care to the newborn.