Young Mothers’ Experiences of Power, Control and Violence Within Intimate and Familial Relationships

In 2009 the National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children published “Partner Exploitation and Violence in Teenage Intimate Relationships”. This publication reports on the first major study in the United Kingdom to systematically document the incidence rates and dynamics of intimate partner violence in the lives of young people. It also highlights the UK research communities’ lack of attention to the issue of young people and partner violence; much of what is known about young people's experiences of violence within their intimate relationships has been informed by research undertaken in the USA. In this article we contribute to the growing body of research in the United Kingdom and present findings from a qualitative study that explored pregnant teenagers and young mothers’ experience of power, control and domestic violence in their familial and intimate relationships. Our study highlights the complexities and contradictions relating to the notion of family support, with young women respondents sometimes identifying this “support” as controlling. Our findings also show how young mothers, like older adult women, are subject to a range of violent behaviours in their intimate relationships. We conclude that any attempt to minimise the “risks” this group face needs to recognise how familial and intimate relationships can negatively impact on the health and well-being of pregnant teenagers, of young mothers and that of their child/children.