ABSTRACT
While many adolescent mothers use their pregnancy as a catalyst for positive change, about half may struggle as this population carries disproportionate risks, presenting considerable developmental challenge for many infants and their mothers. The risks include generations of poverty, mental illness, and sometimes a history of neglect and abuse, depression, substance use, and coercive partner relationships. A young mother is negotiating herself through the adolescent process as well as the new experience of becoming a mother. The availability of fathers is important not only for the infant but also for the mother. For many young mothers their relationship with their own mother had its difficulties, for example, not feeling they were enjoyed when they were nurtured and they feel deprived in a way that makes it hard to be reflective. The chapter describes both a young mother and an intervention and designs to help parents connect better with their infant.
