| Author: | Lau, Siu-cho |
| Title: | Short term consequences of relinquishment of parenting versus parenting decision among adolescent mothers |
| Degree: | M.A. |
| Year: | 1998 |
| Subject: | Teenage mothers -- China -- Hong Kong Parenting -- China -- Hong Kong Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Applied Social Studies |
| Pages: | iii, 100 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Numerous adolescents in Hong Kong become pregnant each year but the actual data were unknown and inaccessible. Those adolescent mothers had two options: parenting or relinquishing the baby for adoption. On the one hand, the choice of keeping the baby was always predicted by long term poverty, educational, emotional and vocational deprivation. On the other hand, it was argued that the feelings of loss, grief, and regret associated with relinquishment will not go away as times goes by. To address this concern, this study assessed the short term consequences of relinquishment of parenting versus parenting decision among adolescent mothers in local context. Data were collected from the former clients of the biggest local maternity residence in Hong Kong from January 1998 to March 1998. All clients had received their counselling service from 1992 through 1997. Of the 53 respondents, 22 were parenters and 31 were relinquishers. Result indicated that their age and family background were similar. Relinquishers fare better than parenters on a set of sociodemographic outcomes, such as occupational and financial status. Relinquishers were indistinguishable from parenters on measures of life satisfaction, and emotional support from significant others. On exception was, parenters tended to be more satisfied with their family life. Finally, relinquishers were less comfortable with their pregnancy resolution decision than parenters. They tended to high higher level of anger, pain, grief and regret than parenters. These findings had to be qualified by the non-probability sample nature, small samples size and the short term nature of the consequences studied. To be conservative, generalizability of these findings should be limited primarily to relinquishers and parenters who lived in maternity residences during their pregnancies. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b14465528.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.02 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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