Abstract

GUTIERREZ, Maggui; CASTELLANOS, Sergio; HENAO, Juanita  and  SANTACOLOMA, Andrés. Psychic atmosphere and significant links of expectant and nursing adolescent low-income mothers:: Implications for psychological development. Rev.latinoam.cienc.soc.niñez juv [online]. 2007, vol.5, n.1, pp.125-161. ISSN 1692-715X.

This paper reports partial results of a research-intervention project that sought to describe the psychic atmosphere and the significant links of expectant and nursing adolescent low-income mothers and to analyze its implications on the psychological development of those mothers and their children. The intervention was a program of group psychotherapy with a psychoanalytic approach. It took place during 10 to 15 sessions with 15 groups composed of an average of 6 mothers each. The participants were 97 14- to 19-year-old adolescents from Bogotá, who belonged to low-income groups (Socio-Economic Strata 1 and 2). During the sessions, an observer registered the discourse of the participant mothers and that of the couselor; detailed protocols were later reconstructed. These protocols were analyzed using a sequential hermeneutic analysis that initially showed descriptive categories; its main tendencies were afterwards submitted to analysis from the psychoanalytic framework. Results indicate that during pregnancy, birth and nursing, the predominant characteristics of mothers' psychic atmosphere and their significant links do not favor their own psychological development or that of their baby. In some cases, nevertheless, experiences were satisfactory and the emotional state of the mother favored the mother-child bond.

Keywords : Adolescent mothers; psychic atmosphere; mother-child bond; significant links; family structure; psychological development.

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