9.4.1 Negotiating independence: A qualitative study examining how mother and teenage daughters understand and respond to risk (112)

Debra Salmon, Reader in community Health sydies, School of Maternal and Child Health, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom debra.salmon@uwe.ac.uk

Abstract:

This paper reports on a qualitative study examining mother and teenage daughter responses to risk and negotiated independence. Parenting has climbed the political agenda fuelled by changes in family structure, moral panics over teenage pregnancy, risk taking and anti-social behaviour (Thom, Sales & Pearce 2007). It is increasingly argued that parents are liable for their children’s behaviour through monitoring and supervision. This research challenges simplistic and deterministic accounts as flawed and unhelpful, in favour of more in-depth qualitative work (Stace & Roker 2005). It explores monitoring and supervision as part of the parent/child relationship embedded within broader family and social processes. Data came from forty-two interviews with seven mother/daughter dyads over two years. These focused on aspects of risk taking including drug and alcohol use, sex and relationships and being away from home. Risk taking was examined in relation to mother/daughter negotiations and located within biographical and social contexts. Data were analysed using constant comparative analysis assisted by computer software. Findings suggested maternal anxiety was primarily caused by fear of male violence and sexual threat. Mothers adopted practical strategies in an attempt to keep daughters safe. More significant were ongoing relationships in which negotiations about risk took place. Communication emphasised democracy, reciprocity, trust, commitment to intimacy and mutual understanding. Maternal responses to risk taking were pragmatically focused on harm minimisation and providing support, irrespective of feelings of disapproval. Daughters were keen to minimise maternal anxiety and maintain good relationships despite different perceptions of risk concerns. Irrespective of social circumstances dyads experienced relationships as supportive and central to everyday survival. Service development and policy implications responsive to maternal needs within ‘ordinary families’ were understood as an essential requirement for mothers responding to the increasingly complex task of negotiating risk within the context of extended transitions and fears about male threat.

Biography:

Debra is a Reader in Community Health. Her interests lie in health promotion, young people, risk taking and the arts. Involvement in health service evaluation has been particularly around community health and primary prevention including the role of drama in sexual health education for ‘hard to reach young people’ and the development of sexual health services for young people within primary care. Recently she has undertaken a systematic review of impact of arts based initiatives on young people's health. Previously, she led the DH funded evaluation of the Bristol Pregnancy and Domestic Violence Programme to promote routine antenatal enquiry for Domestic Violence within North Bristol NHS Trust. This led to the development of a nationally disseminated teaching pack and video endorsed by the RCM & CPHVA. It is also cited as best practice within the DH publication Domestic Violence: A Resource Manual for Health Care Professionals. Currently this work is being further disseminated abroad, in Ghana to support policy development focused on appropriate interventions around domestic violence. In the UK, her current research is within the school setting where she is undertaking an Evaluation of a School-based Young People's Sexual Drop-in Service in Bristol.