Authors: Gina Riccio Emma Baumgartner Yvonne Bohr Deborah Kanter Fiorenzo Laghi
Publish Date: 2012/09/29
Volume: 16, Issue: 2, Pages: 321-325
Abstract
Italy has experienced a recent surge in immigration which has led to an increase in the country’s birth rate Many immigrant mothers are adolescent parents 30 adolescent mothers 17 recent immigrants and 13 adolescents of Italian descent completed measures of adolescent selfdevelopment and motherhood perceived availability and satisfaction with social support and emotional and behavioral characteristic of their children Findings suggest that immigrant teen mothers show more difficulties related to parenting than do Italian born teen mothers In particular immigrant teen mothers report lower levels of social support satisfaction and availability higher levels of parent–child dysfunction and experience motherhood and child behavior as more problematic The findings highlight and confirm the need for welldesigned specific supportive services for adolescent immigrant mothers
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