Teen pregnancy and educational advancement in Buea, Cameroon

¶ … teen pregnancy and parenting on the educational advancement of a girl child in Buea-Cameroon

In the past 3 decades, there has been an ever increasing interest in the link between lower educational advancements of teenage mothers and adolescents who get pregnant. Numerous studies have confirmed that higher levels of teenage pregnancy are directly linked to higher levels of educational abandonment (Albert, B., Sarah and Christine, 2003; Singh and Darroch, 2000; Federal/Provincial/Territorial Advisory Committee on Population Health, 1999; Galambos and Tilton-Weaver, 1998). This level of consistency has led many researchers to believe that there is a definite and interdependent relation between the two amongst the youth (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2000; 1999a, 1999b, 1999c; The Real Costs of Teen Pregnancy, 2006; Social Exclusion Unit, 1999).

Research studies have studied social effects or influences, on educational abandonment by teenage mothers (Albert, 2004; Albert, 2007; The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2003; National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2006; Rigsby, Macones and Driscoll, 1998). Furthermore, studies have also looked at the impact of economic situation on educational advancements by teenage mothers (Balakrishnan, Lapierre-Adamcyk, Krotki, 1988; Ashken and Soddy, 1980; Ventura, Curtin and Matthews, 2000; Trussell and Menken, 1978; Turner, Grindstaff and Phillips, 1990; Smith, 1993; Secretary of State for Health, 1992). When taken into consideration, all these socio-economic dynamics and peripheral factors have been proved to be decisive in the relation between educational advancements and teenage mothers.

Problem statement

The numerous technological advancements in the field of healthcare and social sciences are providing new and improved procedures to treat pregnant adolescents and teenage mothers (Ashken and Soddy, 1980; Seamark and Gray, 1997; Hammerslough, 1992; Leridon, 1977; Wilson, 1980; Matsuhashi, Felice, Shragg, Hollingsworth, 1989; SOGC, 2000; National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2003; Polit and Kahn, 1986). This is being done both clinically and psychologically (Suellentrop and Christine, 2002). Still many of these patients are left wanting and disappointed from the educational and healthcare system (Clement and Myles, 1994; Combes-Orme, 1993; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005; Henshaw, 1998; Lindberg et al., 1997; Wadhera and Millar, 1997; Weinstock, Stuart, and Willard, 2004). Both educational advancement and low educational advancement have been linked to lower levels of educational advancements amongst these adolescents (Wellings and Kane, 1999; Whitehead. And Marline, 2006; Curtis, Lawrence and Tripp, 1988; Cote J. And Allahar, 1994; Balakrishnan, Lapierre-Adamcyk, Krotki, 1988). This evaluation study will thoroughly study factors that influence teen pregnancy and parenting on the educational advancement of a girl child in Buea-Cameroon.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to understand the factors affecting the educational advancements of teenage mothers and pregnant adolescents living in Buea-Cameroon.

Importance of the proposed study

Since educational advancement is an important social and behavioral phenomenon, this study can be significant at regional, national, and international levels.

1)

The findings of this study will expand the knowledge about developmental influences over educational advancements of teenage mothers and pregnant adolescents living in Buea-Cameroon.

2)

It will provide valuable information for the policy makers both in the central government and local government to make effective decisions to support and fund programs to raise educational advancements of teenage mothers and pregnant adolescents living in Buea-Cameroon.

3)

This study and its findings will become an addition to and update of the international research of educational advancements of teenage mothers and pregnant adolescents in general.

Literature Review

This study is designed to understand the factors affecting the educational advancements of teenage mothers and pregnant adolescents living in Buea-Cameroon. Reviewing the existing literature, it is striking to note that extensive research has been done on the subject of educational advancements at various age levels in the United States and other developed countries. In contrast, there is a significant lack of research investigating the factors affecting educational aspirations of pregnant adolescents or teenage mothers in developing or underdeveloped countries. Therefore, the issue of educational advancements is of national and international importance. It is a concept that has no geographic or language boundaries (Quaglia, 1989). Haller (1993) states that educational advancements are important and the differences in aspirations across groups of youth and reasons for such differences are also important to consider (Taylor & Krahn, 2005). This literature review will review existing literature on factors that impact educational advancement of pregnant adolescents and teenage mothers at the global level.

Pregnant adolescents and teenage mothers' educational advancements

Educational advancement is caused by a number of social and economic factors. This section of the paper provides a profound dimension of causes related to educational advancement of teenage mothers. The results of our research reveal a distinctive pattern of factors, which directly influence this group's educational advancement.

The impact of anxiety on teenage mothers' educational advancement

A group of scholars have found strong links between anxiety and low educational advancement amongst pregnant adolescents and teenage mothers. They founded their study on two theories, namely (1) classical turmoil theory and (2) normality theory. Another group of researchers in their study found that these two theories have dominated some of the studies on the teenage mothers and their behaviors. The turmoil theory mainly concentrates on the psychodynamics of the adolescents, like issues of sexuality and personal characteristics. The normality theory tends to take the limelight away from factors like chaos, variances and disagreement. They point out that most researches that have been done in the past decade on the adolescents have concentrated on two facets: (1) psychobiological (2) psychosocial domains (as cited in Singh and Darroch, 2000). Singh and Darroch (2000) have concluded that both these domains have a profound impact on adolescent educational advancement.

Similarly, a group of scholars in their study presented two examples that describe the aftermath of the biological growth amongst adolescents. These two examples or ideals are the mediated-effects ideal and the direct-effects ideals. The mediated-effects ideal tends to rely on a very extensive spectrum that is accountable for the psychological growth that encompasses the personal, traditional, intellectual and communal elements. While the direct-effects ideal presents a direct association between the physiological alterations and psychological growth. Another group of researchers used Dusek's findings to assess the educational advancement of adolescents and found that mediated-effects model impacted Educational advancement of adolescents, particularly for girls. He failed to find any connection between direct-effects ideals and adolescent Educational advancement (Singh and Darroch, 2000).

Research studies have pointed out that teenage mothers who have higher anxiety levels tend to get more involved in problematic situations and raise serious mannerism concerns, they tend to be unpopular and ostracized by their contemporaries, have inferior levels of the educational advancement, and their grades and academic attitudes suffers a lot more as opposed to those adolescents who are less anxious. Research also indicates that there are between 10% and 30% of teenage mothers whose academic achievements are hampered by the increased levels of anxiety. Researchers also found that pregnant adolescents who have lower degrees of anxiety be more alert and experience higher academic presentations and achievements and are more likely to have higher levels of educational advancement (Singh and Darroch, 2000).

Another aspect of the research that has been covered with teenage mothers serving as the sample has been the joint melancholic effect of the anxiety syndromes and the peripheral syndromes. Most of these studies have highlighted the augmented and joint hazardous elements and their practical implications. Studies have found that confidence and behavioral issues amongst teenage mothers is still one of the many topics that engage researchers. The statistics that show the degree to which the peripheral mannerisms are linked or cause by anxiety range from a meager 2% to 21%. This stat however is not accurate if both the pregnant and teenage mothers are taken into consideration. A group of researchers conducted a longitudinal study that showed that the existence of the joint melancholic effect of the anxiety syndromes and the peripheral syndromes does decline after the initial years of infancy have passed. This could also be a result of the reduction in anxiety with the increase in age (Singh and Darroch, 2000).

The impact of fear on teenage mother's educational advancement

Fear in normal terms is described as a perceived or accepted response to a possible or imaginary danger to threat. However, this definition does not apply when we are considering the scientific form of fear or phobia. A group of researchers in their study concluded that fear was more dominant amongst the teenage mothers as opposed to the other adolescents. However, they could not verify and authenticate this conclusion in a later study. Another group of researchers in their study found that female teenage mothers tend to have higher levels of fear than male teenage fathers. They found that those teenage mothers who experienced higher levels of fear were also prone to higher levels of low educational advancement (Singh and Darroch, 2000).

One study found that some of the more common fearful responses include the phenomena of panic attacks and terrors (Singh and Darroch, 2000). The three common elements that cause these responses are:

(a) Dread of unconstructive assessment,

(b) Anxiety sensitivity, and (c) Grievance/disease sensitivity (as cited in Singh and Darroch, 2000).

Of these elements, they found anxiety sensitivity to be directly linked to lower levels of educational advancement. Anxiety sensitivity mainly comprises symptoms of anxiety leading to fear due to a certain belief that anxiety has dangerous somatic, psychological, or social penalties. In one study scholars found that the basic forms of fears were the playing field for a broad spectrum of fear-stimuli and they found that these basic forms of fear led to heightened levels of low educational advancement amongst teenage mothers (Singh and Darroch, 2000).

A group of researchers found facts that verified the philosophy that the dread of feeling anxious was more powerful then other fears. Nevertheless, they also stated that these basic fears were not the basis for all of the inconsistencies that were found in the ordinary fears and quality/character anxiety. This basically denoted that there were other unenthusiastic life incidents that could contribute to the aftermath of these basic fears. Hence, the stats that analyze the association between the basic fears and unenthusiastic life incidents could be utilized to analyze and foresee the occurrence as well as the extent of ordinary fears. Other elements that may influence fear are age, gender, and SES among others. Singh and Darroch (2000) found age and gender to be strong indicators of lower educational advancement amongst teenage mothers (Singh and Darroch, 2000).

In one study carried out on the link between anxiety and fear researchers studied children between the ages of 8 and 16. They concluded that the pattern of anxiety and fear was the same as found in the teenage mothers. This basically meant that higher anxiety levels led to higher fear levels and lower educational advancement, with the opposite being true as well (Singh and Darroch, 2000).

Fear, in terms of panic attacks, amongst pregnant and teenage mothers has only in the past decade or so caught the attention of the researchers. Some researchers, however, had an opposing view of panic attack patterns. These studies showed that most panic attacks began at the age of adolescence, not before, and were more common for the females and even more common for teenage mothers. These females are highly prone to lower levels of educational advancements (Singh and Darroch, 2000).

There have many studies done on the American teenage mothers and the incidence of the impulsive panic attacks amongst them. Most of the results showed that nearly 60% of the teenage mothers had panic attacks and they were more common amongst females then the males. Other researches also showed statistics that confirmed that teenage mothers suffered from higher levels of panic attacks and hence they were more likely to have increased degrees of anxiety and lower educational advancement (Singh and Darroch, 2000).

The impact of self-developed coping-strategies on teenage mother educational advancement

Studies have found that the phase of turning from an adolescent to a teenage parent is the phase where the identity crises occur for most children. Furthermore, it is during this transition that the teenage mother starts to deal on a larger scale with the psychosocial realities and starts to develop their tackling or coping capabilities and tactics. A group of researchers found that this coping procedure or phase is very under researched and rarely comprehended. Another group of researchers in their study explained that this was because the teenage mothers had a whole structure of coping tactics and none of those tactics were used in frequency or regular consistencies. Another unknown area about the coping tactics is whether they are part of the overall characteristics or whether they have been observed before being practiced. Some of the elements that influence the coping tactics are gender, society, customs, maturity, family structure and family conditions among others. Researchers found that teenage mothers who were able to execute successful coping strategies were highly likely to experience higher levels of Educational advancement. They found the opposite to be true for those teenage mothers who failed to practice a coping strategy (Weinstock, Stuart, and Willard, 2004).

The impact of social settings on teenage mother educational advancement

According to Bronfenbrenner (1989) the social system is basically a personality or character structure (Bronfenbrenner, 1989). So when considering this system, educational advancement of teenage mothers gets influenced by biological, personal as well as social elements like the family, contemporaries, and social institutions. All these elements can influence the educational advancement directly through joint contacts and/or personal dedication of the teenage mother. Kohn (1989) found that exo-systems - external social settings -- can also at times influence the educational advancement of teenage mothers. One of the examples of exo-systems is the occupational choices of the parents, these occupational choices will structure the overall parenting approach as well as the familial norms, principles and habits, which as a result will influence the path of the teenage mother's mental growth (Kohn, 1989). The exo-system can also influence her mental growth outside of the domain of the parental attitudes. Teenage mothers can analyze the future contributions that they can make by analyzing the social structure that exists outside of their family like the gender differentiations within the social sphere. Orr and Dinur (1995) found that occupational choices made by parents and social structures surrounding the teenage mothers significantly impact their educational advancement (Dinur and Orr, 1995).

There is very little disagreement on the fact that personal growth of an individual is affected by his educational advancement. The differences arrive in how this affect is represented and what is the background behind the conclusions made. The social scientists tend to rely on the phenomena of personality (Rosenberg, 1991), self-assessment (Harter, 1983), self-respect (Wylie, 1968), self-conception (Marsh, 1990a) as well as, confidence or self-worth (Harter, 1983). There are numerous researches as well where these aforementioned concepts are calculated on a global free-of-ideals structure (e.g., Rosenberg, 1991), with the help of the specific calculative stats of spheres (e.g., Piers and Harris, 1969), and additional calculative stats of other realms (e.g., Marsh, 1990a; Harter, 1983, and Wylie, 1979).

The pattern of these studies exhibits two facts:

1. The degree of self-evaluations, i.e., the different collection of the various definitions and elements of self-concept, and

2. The structure of the self-concept philosophy, i.e., the system of associations and link between the different elements.

This stack of facts and stats gives the researcher the opportunity to analyze and form conclusions about the numerous detached and widespread influences that the social environments have on a teenage mother's educational advancement. Dinur and Orr (1995) found that the structure of the self-concept theory helps the individual to use these facts to his advantage so that he/she can cope and tackle with the situations on a general scale. If the development of an individual is dependent upon the association of the self-concept then it safe to say the self-concept of parents, or peers, or other social factors will have a strong influence on the teenage mothers' development and educational advancement (Dinur and Orr, 1995).

Harter (1983) found that the theory of self-concept varies with the ages, cultures and populations, and this variation is one of the propelling forces for many researchers to study the multifaceted nature of the self-concept (Harter, 1983; Marsh, 1990a). Dinur and Orr (1995) argued that these studies lack the social environment or changes that effect the formation of the self-concept. Also not many studies have been conducted implementing the multifaceted nature of the self-concept on the choices and communication of the teenage mother with his/her environment. The researches done thus far have concentrated on the gender preferences amongst different societies and have only exhibit the association of certain social environments with specific ideals of the self-concept philosophies (Weinstock, Stuart, and Willard, 2004).

Rosenberg and Pearlin (1978) in their study tried to classify some of the main components that make up the structure of the self-concept philosophy. They classified the opinion of significant others like family members or friends as an integral component along with all the facts that were collected from self-evaluation, recognition and acknowledgment of what is vital or important and assessments of their social relationships. They also explained that when these classifications are expanded then one can see how they are influenced by the peripheral third parties or testimonial factions within the social setup. Similarly, empirical studies of relations between social setting and self-concept variables reported discrete contingencies (Weinstock, Stuart, and Willard, 2004).

In relation to the self-concept phenomenon, numerous researches have also carried out studies with the focus being on the different gender preferences in different social environments; and interestingly, all of the researches done, on the two factors, show unforeseen links or happenings in their association. A large number of the studies done in the western societies have shown that the teenage mothers are the ones that experience higher levels of low educational advancement then teenage fathers and they also explain how this is more common within specific cultures and/or realms within a society (Cheung, 1986; Davis et al., 1978; Demo and Parker, 1987; Orr and Ben-Eliahu, 1993; Robinson-Awana et al., 1986; Rosenberg, 1985; Skaalvik, 1986). Numerous studies have reached somewhat of a consensus on the social influence of the above facts but there have not been many researches that highlight the social environmental elements that that have an influence on the gender preferences in the self-concept (Weinstock, Stuart, and Willard, 2004).

Leung, Salili, and Baber (1986), in one of their studies concluded that there was an interdependent connection between the forms and amount of authority, the educational advancement of the teenage mothers, the ambience of the family intellect, and the ordinary teenage mother concerns. Most teenage mothers felt apprehensive to perform with an appropriate social mannerism and if they were unable to do so then they would self-evaluate themselves and present lower inclination towards educational advancement. The authority and influence of peripheral factors would hinder them asking for help from family members; disregard whatever help the family members did give; not take active part in the designing and organizing of the family events; and express emotions of anger and irritability when things were not done according to their liking.

De Man and De-Visse (1987), in their study, asserted that social isolation was directly associated with lower levels of educational advancement and authority/influence of peripheral factors. Rosenberg, Schooler, and Schoenbach (1989), in their study concluded that the teenage mothers with higher level of educational advancement were good academic achievers, happy, and avoided truancy, negligence or misbehavior. In his study, after considering educational advancement in relation to numerous other elements, he also concluded that:

1. Low educational advancement amongst the economically strained groups leads to negligence, criminal behavior and misbehavior,

2. Educational advancement and melancholy have a two-way and interdependent association.

Studies have shown that the effect of parenting on the educational advancement of the teenage mother is very significant. Parents, who show fair disciplinary methods, are fostering and cooperative have children who have higher levels of educational advancement. According to Baumrind (1971) the opposite also stands true (Baumrind, 1971; Marcia, 1980; Maccoby & Martin, 1983). Plus, studies have also shown how negatively the economic strains and crisis affects the teenage mothers' educational advancement. The economic strain can lead to parent-child (teenage mother) detachment as well marital unhappiness or split as proved in numerous researches. This marital unhappiness leads for higher levels of distress, misbehavior, lesser social interactions and early alcohol use in the teenage mother hence affecting her educational advancement extremely dangerously as concluded in the study conducted by Conger et al. (1991) (Weinstock, Stuart, and Willard, 2004).

The impact of family integrity on teenage mother educational advancement

Studies have found that the role of the parents (of the teenage mother) is very well defined within the realm of self-concept. It is believed that if and when the parents create a friendly yet strict and loving environment for the teenage mothers, then the teenage mother will experience higher levels of constructive growth and will attain superior mental strength. Also another important factor for the shaping of the educational advancement of the teenage mothers is their peer affiliations. Those teenage mothers who have lower educational advancement are usually reported to be associated with distracting peers who are of very little help in the recognition of identities and tasks when it comes to school grades, sports, extra-curricular activities, engagement in harmful habits like alcohol or drugs, etc. (Albert, Sarah and Christine, 2003).

Usually the studies that were conducted to examine how the unconstructive family structure influences low educational advancement used the questionnaire or survey method and ask the children to rate their family lives consisting on certain standard conditions like employment, peace, economic issues, etc. Some of the studies conducted this ways were the research done by Miller et al. (1986) where he concentrated on the nature of the parental management or power and teenage mother sexual activities; Quintana & Lapsley (1990) carried out a research that mainly highlighted the numerous ways a parent-child clash and familial troubles of separation, divorce, death etc. affected the teenage mothers' growth; Holmbeck & Wandrei (1993) conducted a study which focused on the teenage mother-parent association and how this association shifted or altered with the growth of the child; Martin et al. (1995) conducted yet another study where he focused on the teenage mother reactions responses to suicidal capacities or instants within their families; and McCullough & Scherman (1998) also conducted a study where they focused on the general communication between the child and the parent (or lack of it) and its impact on her educational advancement. All of these studies show that negative family structures increase lower levels of educational advancement amongst teenage mothers (Albert, Sarah and Christine, 2003).

The studies that include both the parents and children's responses are very limited. This is simply because there are apparent organizational hurdles when conducting a survey from both the child and the parent in the same family. This is a disadvantage because if studies like this were conducted more efficiently and conclusively then the numerous teenage mother conflicts or confidence problems could be anticipated and rectified. There is only one major study of Hong Kong teenage mothers conducted by Shek (1999) that exhibits that the emotional distress and lower levels of educational advancement experienced by teenage mothers could actually be a result of the clashes between the parent and the child with both playing different and equivalent parts (Shek, 1999). One of the major reasons for these clashes is the maturing of the teenage mother and the interaction that the teenage mother has in her social circle. This maturity and experience along with the age gap results in the formation of conflicting principles and values between the child and the parent which results in discrepancies and disagreements (Shek, 1999). Hampson et al. (1994) said that the clashes and disagreements between the child and the parent were bound to increase with the increase in the age, hence maturity, of the teenage mother. These clashes could also be based on how the parent views the family life should be and how much this view differs from the child's and vice versa (Albert, Sarah and Christine, 2003).

Both Kagitcibasi (1990) and Lay et al. (1998) found that family integrity for most teenage mothers and youngsters is an integral component of the social status. Its importance grows when the children experience cross-cultural or foreign social experiences as well (Kagitcibasi, 1990; Lay et al., 1998). Another study found that all forms of positives and constructive family integrity are believed to lead to higher educational advancement and confidence amongst the teenage mothers (Albert, Sarah and Christine, 2003).

The impact of parental behavior on teenage mother educational advancement

Numerous researches have shown enough authentic links between the teenage mother's educational advancement and parent personalities. All of the studies tend to agree with the fact that higher levels of educational advancement are evident when the parents are helpful and loving towards their children (Gecas, 1971, 1972; Growe, 1980; Graybill, 1978; Hoelter & Harper, 1987; Holmbeck & Hill, 1986; Kawash et al., 1985; Litovsky & Dusek, 1985; Peterson, Southworth, & Peters, 1983). To extend this, numerous studies have also shown that if the parents are able to manage the habits and behaviors of children while staying away from the negative emotions like apprehension, culpability, blame and alienation then the children or teenage mothers are more likely to have higher educational advancement and have a healthy relationship with their parents; and children will feel of sense of pride through being, not doing i.e. realize that who they are is important (Graybill, 1978; Kawash et al., 1985; Litovsky & Dusek, 1985; Openshaw et al., 1984).

For most of the teenage mothers, a strong form of educational advancement can be highly increased through parental assistance, appreciation, cooperation as well as family integrity and peace (Harter, 1999). This has been proved to be true for most cultures, those who are in the majority and the minority, in both the western and eastern nations (e.g., Herz and Gullone, 1999; Scott et al., 1991; Shek, 1999; e.g., Greenberger and Chen, 1996; Hughes and Demo, 1989). Apart from parental or familial participation, the social circle and acquaintances are also very significant influences in the build-up of higher levels of educational advancement amongst teenage mothers. If both these factors are consistent and strong then the minority groups mostly can find ways to get past the biased impressions of the majority groups which will help them develop more confidence and advance educationally (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999a).

The punitive treatment of the parents also is believed to have a significantly important influence on the teenage mother's educational advancement, although no certain conclusions have been made. Most researches proposed that theoretically a fair form of punishing structure would encourage the growth of educational advancement; however, there is very little evidence to support this in application (Baumrind, 1968; Coopersmith, 1967). There have been many studies that have been unsuccessful in finding a strong or influential association between the parents' discipline strategy and the teenage mothers' educational advancement (i.e., Gecas, 1971, 1972; Graybill, 1978). On the other hand there are studies that have shown lower educational advancement levels to exist when the parents tend to overdo punishments and control everything (Litovsky & Dusek, 1986; Openshaw et al., 1984). And yet many other studies have concluded that a moderate approach to punishment and macro-management with an appropriate freedom for the teenage mother has led to higher levels of educational advancement (Growe, 1980; Peterson et al., 1983; The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999a).

The impact of parental interaction on educational advancement

Parent-child (teenage mother) interaction and communication is considered very important, not only for the association of the parent and child, but also for her educational advancement. Numerous psychological researches have concluded that multiple depictions of self-concept and the assessments of one's educational advancement influence the overall communication between the parent and the child. Of course the communication with the contemporaries and friends is also very important for the teenage mothers' educational advancement. Researchers have found that during the process of communication, if both the parties show emotions of confidence, reception, and support, then it is very likely that the teenage mother will experience higher levels of educational advancement (Wellings and Kane, 1999).

Physical maturity, as shown in various biosocial researches, alters the way that the teenage mothers interact and/or communicate with their parents or contemporaries. The changes alterations in attitudes or communication with physical maturity are more obvious in teenage mothers than fathers. The overall affect or influence however is much underlined and is not as evident as perceived to be in the conventional theories of adolescence. Conventionally, it is the period of adolescence that is considered to be full of chaos and disagreements while modern researches show that the clashes, disagreements and isolation increase with the initiation of the pubertal growth (Wellings and Kane, 1999).

On the other hand, studies have also confirmed that no link is visible between biological changes and educational advancement. For instance, one study Simmons & Blyth (1987) failed to establish any link between female educational advancement with beginning and presence of menses. In the same way, Brack, Donald, & Ingersoll (1988) also failed to establish any links between self -- esteem and physical maturity model. One reason for this can be that relations with significant others neutralized the impact of biological changes on educational advancement. Many studies have confirmed that relations with significant others, particularly parents, plays a crucial role in the development of educational advancement (Whitehead. And Marline, 2006).

Some research studies compared the teenage mothers with single parents with those who had both parents in relation to the peace within the homes. They concluded that the single-parent teenage mothers were far less satisfied and cheerful then those who had both parents. In contrast, other studies could not find substantial evidence to prove that the marital foundation had any link with the overall educational advancement and chaotic nature of the teenage mother. He did conclude that the chaotic nature of the teenage mother was somewhat more enhanced if she had insubstantial relations with both the parents (Wilson, 1980).

Many experimental interactionists who believe that the social circle and communication is the key for higher educational advancement where educational advancement is mainly determined by the opinions and viewpoints of the significant others like family, friends, teachers, etc. The psychodynamic philosophers and attachment philosophers support this approach and lay great emphasis on the influence that the strong association with the mother can augment the child's confidence and educational advancement. Studies have found that parenting during the early stages of childhood (of the teenage mother's child) is extremely important as the child will feel more confident and acceptable if he has been treated with love, affection, and acceptance for who he/she is (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999b).

Many of the practical researches have supported the above theory that healthy parental interactions enhance the teenage mother's educational advancement as well as cause fewer clashes and disagreements between the parent and child. Other parental inputs that results in higher levels of teenage mother's educational advancement are approval, cooperation and collaboration, kindness, and fair disciplinary procedures. Lower levels of educational advancement and higher chaotic and clashes percentages seem to exist if and when the parents exude unnecessary authority or micro-manage, are domineering, utilize the emotional methods of management and are unyielding (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999b).

There are researches that show variations in parenting methods with the variations in the parent and child characteristics. The practical and scientific studies have supported this fact and asserted that the teenage mother's characteristics or her parent's traits are main influences in the choices of discipline and parental attitudes that are adopted. So one can say that if a child is difficult to deal with or has behavioral issues then the parenting techniques were obviously lacking in some departments (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999b).

Similarly, attachment theory (Ainsworth, 1989; Bowlby, 1982; Kalish and Knutson, 1976) proposes that it is the connection with the mother that will perhaps determine the level of educational advancement as opposed to the connection with the father. The practical researches have shown mixed results; some show that the educational advancement, especially in the case of the males, is higher if they have a stronger bond with their fathers; while other researches have shown higher educational advancement ratios if the bond is stronger with the mother (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999c).

A number of studies have suggested that there are two main forms attachments:

1. The cognitive-affective form of attachment, which is the subtle yet strong influence to and from the significant others; and

2. The behavioral form of attachment, which is the dependent on the significant others and/or attachment figures for assistance and intimacy (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999c).

Many researches have tried to compare the effect on the teenage mothers pertaining to their relations with their parents and their peers. Most of the studies have shown that the educational advancement of the teenage mother, is far more influenced by the status of their association with the parents as opposed to their association with their peers. Conversely, other researchers have found that the growth of educational advancement was related to the teenage mother's association of the parents, the growth social approval and capability was more dependent on the teenage mother's association with the peers (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999c).

With the rise in similarities of characteristics and habits, the attachment theory then turns to the "internal working models" of the significant or attached others which are built on the similarities of the teenage mothers and the significant others. Some studies have found that it was peripheral and invisible belief and trust of the parents in the teenage mother that helps their psychological growth as opposed to their constant physical and visible contribution. Other studies concluded that the peripheral quality of influence of the parent-child relation resulted in higher educational advancement as opposed to relying on parents for emotive encouragement (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999c).

The impact of peer and family relationships on teenage mother educational advancement

Numerous researches have proposed that one of the bases for all contemporary, friends, and parent associations is the teenage mothers' personal assessments. These assessments vary with cultural norms. The teenage mother tends to calculate the worth of her relationships and associations on the basis of friendly social ambience from the contemporaries around, communal approval, as well as the reputation that is given to the teenage mother by the friends and other contemporaries (The Real Costs of Teen Pregnancy, 2006).

It is not only the peer association that varies; the parent-teenage mother relationship also sees variations due to the age of the teenage mother. Some studies found that parental cooperation, assistance and a fair amount of freedom builds up higher levels of educational advancement. In a relative study, the researcher concluded that the teenage mothers aged between 14 and 16, more so then the teenage fathers, experienced more willing, healthy and unrestrictive connections between their own educational advancement and their communication with the parents. Of course, as said before all structures of relations seem to change with the advent of maturity. Hence the teenage mothers seemed to have closer and more communicative relations with the parents with the advent of the baby. This change basically calls for closer scrutiny of how gender affects the peer and family relations and the educational advancement of teenage parenting (The Real Costs of Teen Pregnancy, 2006).

Media and its projection, in the opinion of many researchers, social scientists and psychological scientists, also have an affect on the teenage mother's educational advancement rates. The media, especially in the U.S.A. is ever present in the daily routines of a teenage mother through television, articles, magazines, billboards, ads etc. In two separate scientific studies, the practitioner chose to research the effect that the media had to make the girls feel they had to try insanely hard to attain the ideal body image or success in society. The projection of the media on what is most appropriate in terms of fashion, food, weight, etc. can have a negative affect on the teenage mothers approach to wards self-evaluation and educational advancement (Trussell and Menken, 1978; The Real Costs of Teen Pregnancy, 2006).

Some of the established effects that media is said to have on the teenage mothers encompass:

1. Body dissatisfactions,

2. The creation of unconstructive gender typecasts and

3. Eating syndromes (Trussell and Menken, 1978; The Real Costs of Teen Pregnancy, 2006).

The impact of economic issues on teenage mother educational advancement

The economic conditions of the family are also of significance when we are considering the growth of educational advancement amongst the teenage mothers. There have been researches conducted on how the economic conditions affect the educational advancement of the teenage mother. Most of the time, studies have concluded that weak or poor economic conditions contribute to lower levels of educational advancement. The studies have been able to successfully point out the dangerous outcomes of the stressful economic conditions on the teenage mothers. However, they need to detach the precise and restricting methods that have bridged the economic strain to educational advancement of the teenage mothers. It is still the approach and attitude of the family that plays the decisive part in the growth towards educational advancement of the individual (Albert, 2004).

The economic strain leads to clashes and discrepancies between and among the parents and the teenage mothers on how to spend the limited amount of money. In addition to that the parents end up paying very little attention to the needs of the teenage mother like affection, kindness, acceptance, assistance when in stress and this can lead to a deficiency in respect on both sides (Albert, 2004).

There have been a few studies where the focus has been on the effects of economic strain on the children without specifying the affect it has on their educational advancement. A group of researchers in their study concluded that the economic instability and pressures affected the teenage mothers' socio-emotional condition and hampered the development process. This is also partly because the economic strain does make the parents increase the intensity of their disciplinary methods (Albert, 2004).

Influence of school and locality on teenage mother educational advancement

The economics and financial span of the families can also play a part as a cause in the level of educational advancement. The fact of the matter is that financially poor families will send their children to poor-quality schools which basically mean that the children are going to be studying in a discouraging ambience with very low sense of importance or integration. This, however, will not be true for their financially superior counterparts. Most researches have also determined the school ambience, the attitude of the teachers, the curriculum, the teacher-students relations, etc. As potential causes for the lowered ort heightened levels of educational advancement (as cited in Polit and Kahn, 1986).

Another truth for the financially deprived families is that they have to survive in societies where the unemployment and crime rates are high and it's hard to safeguard the children from being exposed to them. This eventual experience of the societies where violence is high can also eventually lead to negative perceptions of the self and the personal futures which can also cause educational advancement. There has also been evidence in a few researches which suggests that teenage mother educational advancement in low-income families can also be caused by the discomfort and stress levels of the parents (Polit and Kahn, 1986).

Some other researchers in their respective studies also concluded that the contemporary attitudes and acceptance can also lead to the development of certain habits, familiarities or abilities that can cause educational advancement. Statistics show that the poorer compartment of the youth is not as easily socially accepted as the well-off one and that this has indicated lowered levels of educational advancement amongst the poorer compartments of the teenage mothers and youngsters. One of the reasons for this social shunning could also be the financial inability of the parents to offer their children with similar gadgets, environment or interests. This eventually leads to social isolation and the abandonment of the social familiarities and abilities that are needed to thrive and be active in a crowd (Turner, Grindstaff and Phillips, 1990).

Influence of family on teenage mother educational advancement

When research studies have incorporated stress theory or model in the financial circumstances, they have concluded that the financial depravity can cause financial strain amongst the teenage mothers and the members of their family. This strain or stress can lead to unhealthy familial ambience and can lead to both educational advancement and marital split or disturbance. Numerous studies have also focused on the association between the economic stress, marital disturbances or split and educational advancement. The link that has been formed between the financial strain and teenage mother educational advancement is mainly led by the attitude of the parents who under the economic strain can act insensitively, aggressively, uncooperatively, and erratically. Educational advancement can also be indirectly caused by the relation between parental unhappiness and dissatisfaction leading to the marital split. Some other causes of lowered levels of educational advancement have been lightly examined as well; these are the young age of the mother, illiteracy or low literacy, psychologically uncooperative and incapable parenting methods as well as single parenthood (Turner, Grindstaff and Phillips, 1990).

Influences of age, gender, health, and race/ethnicity on teenage mother educational advancement

Another researcher pointed out that the personal traits of the teenage mothers determined the level of growth, social activity, and knowledge. Numerous studies therefore, have incorporated the factors like the age, gender, health status, and race/ethnicity of the teenage mothers in their analyses. Most studies concluded that the phenomenon of educational advancement first showed signs in the early teenage mother age and its increase or decrease was then dependent upon the type of personal and societal adjustments that the individual made. These adjustments or changeovers can be seen in the stages where the teenage mother is entering puberty, getting admitted into schools, changing schools, going to college, rising in the social circle and friends, higher level of independence, differing viewpoints of the parent and child, etc. A number of inherent and communal factors seem to be the cause for higher educational advancement levels amongst females between the ages of 14-15. The studies have been unable to distinctly conclude whether the school and neighborhood factors that cause educational advancement are different for males and females or not. Another researcher in a relative study, concluded that males were far more vulnerable then the females to the neighborly elements that caused educational advancement (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2006).

Another aspect that can cause low educational advancement and low self-confidence amongst the youth is the health of the individual or a family member. Numerous studies have shown that the teenage mothers who view their health as less than what is needed or have encountered perilous disease have experienced lowered levels of educational advancement. The fact is that when this happens, there are lesser opportunities for the teenage mother to have normal or consistent peer exchanges which can also lead to social isolation and consequently lowered levels of educational advancement (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2006).

Many researchers have highlighted another influential element; they pointed out that the traditional or ethnic structure and the prospects in the local or foreign environments also influences the present choices or developments in the teenage mothers. Even though the general belief is that the African-American and Latin teenage mothers are more likely to go through the above element more than the white teenage mothers, the practical studies have supported this belief extremely variably (Matsuhashi, Felice, Shragg, Hollingsworth, 1989).

Another shady element which hasn't been explored extensively is whether the cultural and ethnic differences vary with the different independent and dependent alterations that can cause inclinations for educational advancement. There have been studies, however, that have shown that the different cultures promote different parenting methods and tactics and hence show different patterns that can cause teenage mother or youth educational advancement (Matsuhashi, Felice, Shragg, Hollingsworth, 1989).

The impact of social stressors on teenage mother educational advancement

The main idea behind the word stressor is that we underline and highlight all likely and practical incidents or situations that can cause stress. The overall association and impact of stressors on educational advancement has been focused on quite a lot in the past couple of decades. A researcher, in his study asserted that one of the non-precipitating factors or causes of educational advancement amongst teenage mothers was their loss of association and/or separation from their mothers before they turn 17. A group of researchers, in their study highlighted that there were specific risk elements that had a hand as well in causing educational advancement in an individual. Even though his study did seem contradictory there have been numerous studies that have proven that the social stressors can definitely cause educational abandonment not just among teenage mothers but also ordinary adolescents (Albert, 2004).

A group of researchers, in their study highlighted that there was a category of incidents common to all individuals that were the cause of potential and dangerous disorders in adulthood. They called these incidents the Lifetime Exit Events. They also suggest that all the influences of the family, friends, peers and lifetime exit events were responsible for a separate and disjointed aftermath on the individual's level of stress, anxiety and educational advancement. Most researches believe that the lifetime exit events are mainly those incidents where the activities and/or words used in a situation have a damaging and dangerous impact on a personal trait of an individual like confidence, which directly impacts their educational aspirations. The method of influence is still pretty much a mystery. Also, another thing that is still left un-comprehended is how some individuals are able to avoid the harmful impact of these lifetime exit events. They feel that the contributors of constructive and enthusiastic self-images are innate and personal, like the mental health stability, as well as, relational and outward, like the impact of family, friends, schools, etc. (Albert, 2004).

The impact of social support on teenage mother educational advancement

One aspect of an individual's life that has always intrigued developmental psychologists is the influence that the character and the value or class of communal fondness to the family members and peers has on the mental and physical health of the individual. A researcher in his study provided proof that explained how both direct and indirect contributors influenced the mental psyche and physical performance of an individual. This plainly means that an assured, constant, and loving association with either a family member or a contemporary can help activate and build a positive, strong and flexible nature especially when tackling difficult situations. The mystery still lies in whether this peripheral assistance is solely a behavioral or a situational issue or a combination of both. It is sad that the individual's self-efficiency in a social setting can be a cause for not responding to familial support as well as personal support. A good example of this can be found in a study conducted by a group of researchers where they found that the individuals who found strong social support in an environment showed signs of more mature personal growth as opposed to those individuals who had lower support in a social setting. Another group of researchers in their study showed that the phenomena of social support and educational advancement or lack of educational advancement had a mutually dependent relationship specially in the case of pregnant teenagers (as cited in Albert, 2004).

The impact of parental child-rearing on teenage mother educational advancement

Numerous studies and surveys have proved that when we take in the influences of the peripheral or outward elements, the parents and their attitudes is by far the most significant in causing or avoiding teenager pregnancies or a disinclination from pursuing education after a teenage pregnancy. Also, the studies have shown that the effect of the parenting methods and tactics has both a very confined as well as vast range. This simply means that the confinement or liberty with which the parents administer and control teenage mother behavior can cause higher levels of anxiety, depression, which directly impacts their educational advancement and aspirations (Albert, 2007).

Numerous studies have confirmed the fact that the attitude of parents which comes across as more authoritative, uncompromising, uncooperative and unaffectionate does result in lower levels of educational advancement amongst the teenage mothers. Also, these researches have very clearly declared that the attitude of parents that comes across as kind, cooperative and understanding results in higher levels of educational advancement amongst the teenage mothers. Even though parental authority is required for disciplining the teenage mothers, it is the accentuated sort of antagonistic authority results in lower levels of educational advancement as well as increases the possibility of clashes and irritation (Albert, 2007).

The fact of the matter is that in most occasions when the teenage mothers do not respond simultaneously to the overt and hesitant disapprovals and authority of the parents, it decreases with the passage of time. It is, however, important to realize the importance of the bringing up of the teenage mother as a cause for educational advancement and hence the inconclusive researches done thus far are not sufficient and more studies need to be conducted to get a clearer idea (Albert, 2007).

One way that the studies can be conducted more efficiently is through recognizing the secondary elements that are part of the various components of the parenting methods applied. Most parenting methods are probably influenced by the ambience that is created by the internationally accepted nature around them. In other words, it can be assumed that the friendly and kind parents will probably not use many punitive and authoritative actions towards their children who experienced teenage pregnancy and the same may true for the opposite (Albert, 2007).

Even though the overall components of the parent-child relationship may be difficult to measure in terms of cause of educational advancement, but it can be said with considerable certainty that the elements of unreceptive parenting like insensitive refusal, lowered leniency, and a firm punitive approach are, in most cases, likely to cause educational advancement amongst teenage mothers (Albert, 2007).

The impact of inter-parental relationship on teenage mother educational advancement

Apart from these confined parenting approaches there are some peripheral, indirect and distant parenting approaches that can bring about decrease educational advancement inclinations amongst teenage mothers as well. One of these indirect factors is the personal happiness and contentment of the parents within their own relationship or familial or financial situation. There have been studies conducted that have concluded that the positive growth of the teenage mother's educational advancement is also dependent upon the personal happiness of the parent and their work load (e.g., development of secure infant-mother attachment), and the opposite is true of the parents who are facing personal problems or dissatisfactions (as cited in The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2003).

There have been studies that have claimed that marital splits have led to lowered levels of educational advancement amongst the teenage mothers yet there are some studies that have claimed that marital satisfaction has no influence on the child's later growth or choices. These contradictory results on the influence of marital status and inconclusive results on the influence of parenting methods are reason why this genre needs to be further explored (as cited in The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2003).

The impact of temperamental vulnerability on educational advancement

Of course, parenting methods, whether confined or not, will have the kind of influence that the personality of the child allows or is susceptible to. This simply means that the personal traits of the teenage mother can also be a cause for lack or growth of educational advancement when combined with a few peripheral elements. Most of the unpredictable behavior adopted by the teenage mother has been recognized to lead to depressive inclinations and subsequent social demeanor inappropriateness (Henshaw, 1998).

There have been numerous studies conducted that have shown a significant association between the elements mentioned above and depression amongst teenage mothers. Depressive inclinations have usually been recognized as preludes to social awkwardness or isolation and anxiety as well as low positive affectivity. A group of researchers in their study concluded that all mannerisms and approaches that led to higher educational advancement led to less depressive inclinations over a period of time (Henshaw, 1998).

One of causes and inter-reliant consequences of educational advancement is also an elevated level of unconstructive sensitivity. Considering all the results that have been presented we can clearly see that the general issues that the family or friends have with an individual's mannerisms and their approach towards solving those problems can cause the decreased or increased levels of inclinations to go for educational advancements depressive inclinations in that individual (Ashken and Soddy, 1980).

The impact up-bringing strategies on teenage mother educational advancement

The fact of the matter is that while most studies have treated the maternal child, bringing up strategies and peripheral or arbitrary administration from the parents and the teenage mothers' educational advancement inclinations separately, they are more or less inert-dependent variables. The significance and vitality of the arbitrary authority is apparent in how it shapes the teenage parent-child association to decrease the vulnerability to educational advancement, improve communication and child's personal growth physically, emotionally, and academically as well as socially (Ashken and Soddy, 1980).

One of the arbitrary elements that are considered critical in proper teenage mother development is the up-bringing strategies. Researchers in their prototype for parenting presented the up-bringing environment and strategies as significant and consequential elements that might lead to educational advancement. They illustrated this by giving examples like how marital split or maternal dissatisfaction/unhappiness could create unaffectionate, unforgiving, declined communication and contradictory parenting methods. Other practical surveys and studies have backed up this prototype by observing and proving the existence of inefficient parenting styles and lack of educational advancement in teenage mothers where there has been trouble in tackling the teenage mother's characteristics and there is marital unhappiness (Ashken and Soddy, 1980).

The most important fact that was highlighted in all of these researches was that even though identifying the social stressors was important, what was more important was to determine the effect of up-bringing a child and the presence of educational advancement was the identification of the practical and applied parental methods, marital unhappiness and/or the teenage mothers' personal traits that were difficult to tackle. All negative, unconstructive attitudes and approaches by the parents lead to a potential declined educational advancement inclination tendency in the future for the teenage mother. A few studies have tried to examine how the up-bringing strategies and declined educational advancement inclination inclinations can be influenced and caused (respectively) by the existence of marital dissatisfaction, inability to understand and tackle the child's temperament (Balakrishnan, Lapierre-Adamcyk, Krotki, 1988).

The impact of self-handicapping traits on educational advancement

The researchers, over a period of time, have understood how the evaluative process works and hence have designed a model known as the social competence model of educational advancement. This makes it easier for them to calculate how the teenage mothers assess their own successes and failures in relation to their social skills and how that can lead to educational advancement or stress. There are various cases where the teenage mother has developed non-productive traits or policies like self-handicapping that can in truth serve as a hurdle in their goal. A group of researchers in their study supported the belief that the teenage mothers who were genuinely unhappy with their familial or social conditions usually looked towards easier yet destructive measures to cope with their feelings and rarely ever pursued further education. The one aspect that the studies lack is whether the influence or existence of the self-handicapping traits and genuine unhappiness are simultaneous conditions. Also, in those studies where the association between the two phenomena have been shown, there is very little evidence to suggest whether those two conditions are independent or a consequential result of each other. This is what the emphasis for all future studies should be i.e. To determine whether unhappiness or educational advancement and self-handicapping are independent traits or mutually dependent (as cited in Balakrishnan, Lapierre-Adamcyk, Krotki, 1988).

One of the other aspects or cause of educational advancement that has not been thoroughly investigated is the influence of the parenting methods and the consequential self-handicapping strategies. In theory, there is enough logic presented to believe that the various parenting methods or approaches have a significant effect on the self-handicapping strategies and/or causing the desire for educational advancement. A group of researchers in their study asserted that the cause of most negative activities and self-handicapping coping strategies was the inability of parents to make the teenage mother feel supported and appreciated even when she is in a tough spot throughout the span of their life. Even though there wasn't any explanation or pattern that could tell us how they came to this conclusion and neither were any suggestions given that could rectify the problem, but nevertheless, this conclusion was believed to be one of the critical factors that cause a lowered inclination for educational advancement and the formation of self-handicapping strategies. It was also suggested that those teenage mothers who went through such an environment were able to develop a constructive self-image but would still have high levels of insecurity and would be more guarded then others (Balakrishnan, Lapierre-Adamcyk, Krotki, 1988).

A group of researchers in their study assert that the phenomenon of a supportive relationship has different facets and that the existence of a weak supporting structure or association can actually mean the existence of a clashing association or a nearly non-existent association. This logic is actually derived from another research where the actual focus was on a marital relationship and its effects. The study concluded that the positive influence of the marital relationship on both the spouses could also be an affect of the non-existence of negativity or clashes between the individuals. The focus of future studies when dealing with this trait should be to focus on how the parenting styles or approach towards different potentially damaging situations can cause the inclination of educational advancement or the formation of the self-handicapping strategy (as cited in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005).

The impact of alcohol use on teenage mother educational advancement

There have been studies done where the use of alcohol has been presented as a cause for declined educational advancement and not its outcome. The logic behind this is that alcoholic drinks have certain neurotransmitters (e.g., gamma-aminobutyric acid [GABA]), that when over-consumed can cause a declined level of educational advancement. Yet, some other researchers have presented the logic that alcoholic drinks contain the GABA which is a neurotransmitter which can act in ways that can cause or instigate educational advancement. A group of researchers in their study concluded that the earlier or youthful alcohol abuse led to eventual depressive states amongst teenage mothers. Most researches have found a mutually-dependent association between alcohol abuse and educational advancement. The study conducted by a group of researchers could serve as a good illustration of this association. They experimented with a total of 426 teenage mothers and spanned their analysis of the association between educational advancement, depression and alcohol for a period of 24 months. The reason for the mutually-dependent conclusion on this occasion could be the similarity of the core elements of the teenage mothers like heredity, social behavioral pattern and personality traits (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005).

Numerous studies have exhibited a different pattern for the association between alcohol use and educational advancement for both males and females. Most of these studies have shown that the association or dependence between the two factors is a lot stronger amongst the females. A group of researchers in their study supported this as the facts that they gathered showed that the majority of the case where alcohol and educational advancement were mutually dependent were white, married females who had previously used other drugs as well. On the contrary there are many studies that have concluded that the males experience a stronger association between alcohol use and educational advancement. A group of researchers supported this in his study where he borrowed statistics from the Epidemiological Catchment Area Program for his analysis (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005).

Numerous researches have put the age of adolescence as the pedestal for the beginning of alcohol abuse, while numerous researchers have indicated that the alcohol use usually increases during the change from adolescence into teens or adulthood. Also, the studies show that the regular drinking usually starts by the late teens. The researches that incorporate both the teenage mother alcohol use and the transitional increase in alcohol use will be of greater importance in understanding how alcohol use can cause declined levels of educational advancement and how the association between the two factors is mutual (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005).

The reason why the changeover period of the individuals is important is because the changeovers mean that the teenage mothers will make adjustments in their behaviors and choices both personally and socially. Studying changeovers can help the researchers analyze the constancy and growth abilities of the teenage mothers which can also help them anticipate the future inclinations. The changeover into adulthood can increase the span and variety of the significant others like the increase in peers. This increase can be accompanied by the rise in lowered or unhealthy familial and prior peer associations. This could be one of the causes for declined levels educational advancement in the transitional period (Lindberg et al., 1997).

Some other researchers have found contradictory patterns where they have observed that the educational advancement levels and alcohol usage decrease as the teenage mothers realize their abilities and look positively to enhance the abilities they have and find ways to learn from their failures and get past unsatisfactory consequences. The downside though is the limitation of these studies i.e. most of them have been conducted using the college students as a large part of the sample which simply indicates that leaving the family to live independently shows an increase in the use of alcohol and consequently educational advancement. Another researcher calls this the maturing-out consequence. However, numerous studies have shown that this consequence is more common amongst white students then black students and decreases as they advance into higher studies. One of the reasons for his difference could be because only a mere 17% percentage of blacks get into colleges compared to the hefty 36.1% of the whites. Also the changeovers for the blacks and whites in terms of adulthood or marriage or occupation or family vary which could cause variations in the use of alcohol and levels of educational advancement and this is why most comparative researches of the black and white teenage mothers will be inconclusive (Lindberg et al., 1997).

The impact of the physical-self on teenage mother educational advancement

There are researches that have proved that not all the females go through educational advancement or lower cerebral or confidence growth in their adolescence. Most studies have highlighted that the boosters or aggravated causes of educational advancement could be due to the social status, social acceptance, parental attitude, parental support and cooperation, individuals' own maturity and developed attitude towards puberty or menstruation (Matsuhashi, Felice, Shragg, Hollingsworth, 1989).

The background of all social associations and exchanges can influence the way a teenage mother deals with onset of puberty and menstruation. Here again, the education and awareness of the family plays a part, a less educated family might not be able to provide the female teenage mother with enough knowledge of menstruation or lust hence hindering the whole process of the coping strategies that the female will develop (Smith, 1993).

Most of the females are reported, in numerous studies, to experience the retraction of motherly love, irritation and clashes within their relations with their parents as well as a decline in the understanding and cooperation from the parents before they reach the age of menstruation. Two of the most important causes of educational advancement, parent-child clashes, social constraints or misdemeanors as well as overly protective and authoritative parenting are believed to be the impaired parent-child communication and unpopular or strict parenting approaches (Smith, 1993).

There are some researchers who say that the timing of puberty or menstruations is the real cause of disturbance and not the phenomenon itself. Some other researchers, in their study, concluded that there was a definite relation between the timing of puberty and the assessment of body image amongst many teenage girls and teenage mothers. Those girls or teenage mothers who experienced puberty at an early age mostly had negative and unconstructive body-images while the opposite was true for those who experienced puberty at a later age. The exact opposite was true for the males i.e. those who experience puberty earlier had a healthy body image and vice versa. Another group of researchers, in their study, established an association between the timing of puberty, body-image and educational advancement for teenage mothers. The sample of teenage mothers was from different cultures but the result was the same: the girls who experienced early puberty had a negative body-image which led them to have lowered educational advancement inclinations and the same was true for the boys who experienced late puberty (Seamark and Gray, 1997).

The only way that this approach of the teenage mothers can be overcome positively is if the overall manners or outlooks towards menstruation and puberty are altered and incorporated in normality. The researches show that the anticipations and encounters of the girls change as they enter the age of menstruation. The overall statistics show that the girls who have reached puberty tend to go through more unconstructive and critical incidents then those who have not reached puberty. The whole experience of puberty is affected by the way that the girl or boy is taught to tackle it. For instance a teenage girl or teenage mother will feel more confident and less depressed dealing with puberty if she experiences acceptance, serenity and cooperation. The opposite will, hence, also stand true (Seamark and Gray, 1997).

The impact of self-efficacy on teenage mother educational advancement

One of the elements that is perhaps one of the most important causes of teenage mother educational advancement is the self-evaluation of the individual's personal capabilities in physical, educational, and communal environments i.e. his own assessment and judgment of how efficiently and thoroughly she will be able to tackle a potentially difficult situation. These assessments have proven to exhibit varying patterns amongst individuals. The negative evaluations may lead the individual to feel useless, dejected and depressed. Even though, the studies on this aspect are somewhat limited, there is enough evidence, like in the research conducted by another set of researchers that those individuals who feel that their practical performance is lesser than what is acceptable experience higher levels of educational advancement. Another researcher in his study also fond that those teenage mothers who had lowered depressive inclinations experienced lower educational advancement a lot later then those who had higher depressive inclinations. Some other researchers in his study also confirmed that those who had high depressive inclinations experience lowered levels of educational advancements (Secretary of State for Health, 1992; Rigsby, Macones and Driscoll, 1998).

A study has also highlighted the fact that most researches do not concentrate on the affect that the educational advancement might have on the social interactions and relations of the teenage mother. She further goes on to say that, in most cases, depressive inclinations have an unconstructive effect on the formation of friendships for the teenage mothers as well as their academic performances; this of course can, as a result, hamper the clear construction of future aims and professions (Rigsby, Macones and Driscoll, 1998.

The impact of cognition on teenage mother educational advancement

In another study, researchers pointed a number of similar factors that can cause educational advancement in teenage mothers. Some other researchers in their study asserted one of these factors to be the association between the depressive inclinations and peripheral authoritative influences. Another one of these common factors that might cause educational advancement and social incompetence as well as practice is the self-evaluation of the personal capabilities mentioned previously (Clement and Myles, 1994).

The third common factor that can cause lowered levels of educational advancement and negative personal view is the intellectual and accepted misrepresentation of self i.e. The depressed individual will always, according to a group of researcher, expect an unconstructive result in every situation and will normally blame their own capabilities for that failure (Clement and Myles, 1994).

Another cause of educational advancement could be the presence or occurrence of unfavorable incidents that the depressed teenage mother will mainly blame on her own personal traits, consistent habits and social structures. Educational advancement is normally caused in these situations because the individual has a chain of thoughts that makes him misread the incidents and her own traits and abilities. This negative anticipation can also cause the depressive inclinations to turn suicidal (Combes-Orme, 1993).

The concept of a "loner," most researchers believe, is caused due to the general social denunciation. Most studies have also confirmed that this denunciation along with familial clashes and parental dissatisfaction all provoke lowered levels of educational advancement amongst teenage mothers. Another group of researchers suggest that this emotion of loneliness can be avoided if there is definite and constant flow of communication between the parent and the teenage mother as well as if the teenage mother is able to form a strong, healthy and constant association with another grown-up like a teacher (Combes-Orme, 1993).

Some other researchers in their research highlight that the social stressors or incidents/behaviors that cause stressful situations can also lead to depressive inclinations in teenage mothers. Numerous studies have shown an inter-linked association between the social stressors, educational advancement and the significant happenings in an teenage mothers' life like the moving of homes or schools, health crises, demise of a loved one or friend, marital split or dissatisfaction, etc. (SOGC, 2000).

One of the elements that have been studied extensively with respect to the depressive inclination in teenage mother educational advancement is the interlinked and self-evaluative concerns or fixations. These studies to an extent have also shown a link between teenage mother misbehavior or truancy and interlinked and self-evaluative concerns. The interlinked fixations are usually bound around or circulate the potential anxiety towards the desertion of a healthy and caring friendship. These fixations tend to react in different ways (constructively, unconstructively or neutrally) to personalized or familial difficulties as well as peripheral problems (SOGC, 2000).

The self-evaluative concerns are mainly driven by the challenge to sustain a healthy and effective image or ideal of one's own personality as well as the apprehension of a potential failure and a consequent loss of self-value and independence. It is assumed that when the individual aims to gratify mostly the social perceptions, it would be difficult for him/her to express what he/she really feels and he/she would assume them to be less important and this will make him/her feel frustrated and depressed (Ashken and Soddy, 1980).

Educational advancement is to an extent also caused by the relation between self-evaluation and changing environmental factors. The basic attitude of the teenage mothers who are extremely self-analytical is of isolation, irritation towards peers and family members, aggressive, unfriendly, unsympathetic and unreceptive (Ashken and Soddy, 1980).

Whatever psychological responses that the teenage mothers have can be compared and/or connected to the behavioral and social outburst of the teenage mother. Usually the teenage mothers who have a superior psychological response can be extremely weary of situations that might risk or cause the loss of their personality and they would usually look for these elements in almost every situation. The normal reactions of the teenage mothers to such situations has been to antagonism and irresponsibility which has of course other repercussions like behavior and management difficulties, delinquency, social isolation, pride boost as well as substance, drug or alcohol abuse. However, there are some studies that conclude that most of these responses are not led by educational advancement, in fact, they believe that these responses might have very little to do with how depressed the teenage mother might be (as cited in Ashken and Soddy, 1980).

The impact of information processing on teenage mother educational advancement

After most of the initial investigations had been done, the researchers tried to draw attention to the designing and examinations of the intellectual or logical prototypes of educational advancement. All of these prototypes have incorporated the characteristic, plans or strategies, and complex notions of educational advancement to describe how the phenomenon begins, sustains and reappears in individuals through the observation of the reactions to their surroundings. To back these prototypes, researchers have also highlighted the differences in behaviors and approaches between the depressed mothers and the non-depressed mothers (Leridon, 1977).

Most of the prototypes of educational advancement do focus on the way that most information or data is administered or understood by the teenage mother. Based on 10 experiments using non-clinical samples, a group of researchers asserted that the whole administration and understanding of the information relies on the complexity of the data provided and its programming i.e. The quality of the information and its intricacy were the main determinants of the individuals' presentation of information recovery or explanation (Ventura, Curtin and Matthews, 2000).

The theory of the intricacy or vastness of the information available is closely associated with the spreading-activation notion of networking as well as associative networking amongst teenage mothers. The spreading-activation networking mainly means that the individuals accumulate and manage all the information, data, incidents and interactions in their personal intellectual or reasoning charts. Collins and Loftus further go on to say that this accumulated knowledge is then transmitted to other related subject matters through the use of specific intersections (Ventura, Curtin and Matthews, 2000).

Associative networking mainly states that the unconstructive dispositions of a teenage mother can influence or mould the way that the generalized data is interpreted and/or collected; this simply means that if the information is corresponding to the state of mind of the teenage mothers then it will be more readily and easily accumulated as well as recollected. So this means that the depressed individual will be more prone to drawing in the unconstructive and negative facts as they correspond and suit the mood that they are in and hence negatively influence the nature of their networks, self-evaluations, potentials, etc. (Hammerslough, 1992).

The aforementioned theory of the unconstructive intellectual or understanding networking is closely related to the notion of "negative schema." "Negative schema" is a reasoning structure that allowed the teenage mother to get a consistent sense of susceptibility to the initiation and sustenance of depressive inclinations among teenage mothers. A researcher in his study suggested that the schema was fundamentally serving as the arbitrator of all the knowledge that is given to the individual while also managing the level of concentration given to every information cluster, the understanding of the information sets as well as their influences around the surroundings of the individual. Similarly, in another study, the researcher highlights that the placement and negative understanding of the information stored hamper the progression of intellectual reasoning and hence it disallows the teenage mother to efficiently interpret and utilize the information that is helpful in furthering educational advancement or is not stressful or depressive (Hammerslough, 1992).

Other research studies also have presented a strong link between information processing and educational advancement. A perfect illustration for this can be the Self-Referent Encoding Task, which presented information with respect to the satisfaction of depressed teenage mother's self-schemata along with their information processing method. The task involved giving teenage mothers a list of adjectives to underline those adjectives which described their personality and after the list is taken from them they were asked to recall all the adjectives, both underlined and non-underlined. The results of this research study were in conformity with other research studies, which had adopted the same pattern (Wadhera and Millar, 1997).

These other research studies found that non-depressed teenage mothers were able to remember those adjectives/words which were more positive, while depressed teenage mothers recalled words/adjectives which were more negatives. This indicated a destructive content of depressed teenage mothers' self-schemata. These research studies also showed another dangerous sign that depressed teenage mothers' discounted/overlooked positive information and recalled/stored only negative information (Wadhera and Millar, 1997).

In line with these results, another researcher found that depressed teenage mothers discriminatingly handle negative adjectives, which stops the information processing of positive words. In another study teenage mothers were asked to remember support and punishment given to them. Researchers found that depressed teenage mothers underrated the frequency of support and overrated the frequency of punishment. The opposite was true for non-depressed teenage mothers (Wadhera and Millar, 1997).

Numerous researchers have conducted research studies with the aforementioned methodology and found similar results. They found that depressed teenage mothers were able to recall more negative words than positive. In another study, amongst a section of teenage mother inpatient in a psychiatric hospital, some other researchers found that teenage mothers suffering from educational advancement were inclined to remember more negative words than positive words. They attributed this phenomenon to teenage mother's cognition and educational advancement instead of their emotion (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2000).

In another study, the practitioner found that depressed teenage mothers generally attributed negative components to both personal and global events. This phenomenon, they say, is directly linked to the negative events these depressed teenage mothers encountered in their lives as well as their inability to understand and assess these situations form an intelligent perspective. They concluded that teenage mothers suffering with higher depressive levels are more inclined to interpret circumstances negatively as they have gone through certain negative life events without getting any proper help from the significant people in their lives (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2000).

Parents, particularly mothers, too have a significant influence in information processing of teenage mothers. Researchers found that teenage mothers with depressed mothers tended to show higher depressive symptoms and held negative educational advancement inclinations and processed information more negatively than teenage mothers with mothers not suffering from depression. In another study, researchers found that teenage mothers who had mothers with mental disorders, particularly those who were cognitively challenged, were more likely to suffer from negative information processing, negative self-schemata and negative educational advancement leading. They also presented more negative personality traits than children with mothers who were not suffering from mental disorders (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2000).

Similarly, other researchers found that teenage mothers whose mothers suffered from non-bipolar mental disorders were more likely to suffer from lower levels of educational advancement than teenage mothers whose mothers did not suffer from non-bipolar mental disorders. They also pointed out that negative information processing amongst teenage mothers was a major cause of educational advancement and that these children are at major risk of developing this mental disorder at a chronic level (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 2000).

A number of researchers have found that negative information processing leads to higher levels of anxiety, which in turn leads to lowered inclination levels of educational advancement. These researchers point out that both anxiety and educational advancement are correlated and are found in teenage mothers whose information processing skills are not standardized. Other researchers point out that when educational advancement and anxiety is developed at infancy, teenage mothers continue to suffer from this ailment even after they grow up (Wadhera and Millar, 1997).

In spite of decades of research on teenage mother educational advancement and its connection to information processing; arguments and disagreements with respect to depressive symptoms and causes continue even today amongst researchers. Some researchers argue that declined or negative educational advancement is caused by negative information processing; while others argue that negative information processing, though, a vital cause of declined or negative educational advancement is not the sole cause. They argue that there are other indicators as well, most notably, anxiety (Wadhera and Millar, 1997).

In conclusion, one can safely assert that educational advancement may develop at an early age and teenage mothers who undergo declined or negative educational advancement tend to suffer from this inclination for a long time. Researchers need to further advance their comprehension of this particular issue so that a more profound theoretical framework can be established, which will help in establishing more concrete and successful intervention strategies (Wadhera and Millar, 1997).

Methodology

The research process

This section serves two main purposes; firstly it will present the methodology being used to carry out this study; secondly, justifications for choosing this methodology will be given. This section is divided into the following eight subsections;

1. Research philosophy;

2. Research approach;

3. Research strategy;

4. Time horizons and research type;

5. Data collection methods;

6. Sample Description;

7. Data Quality issues; and

8. Data Analysis.

The objective of dividing the methodology section into subsections is to present issues and challenges that have got to be addressed in order for this research to become practical, feasible and capable of being carried out. Furthermore, by dividing this section into subsections the general aims of this research can be converted into a practical and investigative topic as described in the "research process onion" model introduced by Saunders et al. (2003, p.83) (Figure 4).

Research Philosophy

Primarily, a research process falls into three main schools of thought. The first is interpretive; the second in positivist and the third is realist (Saunders et al., 2003). The complexity of the topic at hand is far too delicate and intricate to be generalized into universal laws; therefore, this study will adopt an interpretive premise instead of a positivist or a realist. Researchers argue that in order to understand a particular situation or a phenomenon, it is imperative that studiers thoroughly review the underlying reality of that situation/phenomenon. The aim of the research is to explore the subjective reality of the influence of teen pregnancy and parenting on the educational advancement of a girl child in Buea-Cameroon. This is being done to understand the relationship between educational advancement and teenage motherhood and its impact from a broader perspective taking into account the process of how motherhood interplay to affect educational advancement (Saunders et al., 2003).

It can be argued that the relationship between teenage mothers and educational advancements can be considered to exist independent of their thought and belief structures. According to Saunders (2003) such independent and large-scale social forces exist in every situation and their presence sometimes cannot be comprehensively understood by the subjects. Therefore, taking into account the aforementioned reason, this study will adopt both interpretive and realist philosophy.

Research Approach

In research studies, the use of theories can be divided into two main categories; (1) inductive approach and (2) deductive approach. In induction, at first data is collected and then it is analyzed so that a theory/hypothesis can be formed about that situation/phenomenon. In deduction, a theory is used to form hypotheses; thereafter a research strategy is designed to either confirm or refute the hypotheses. Both these approaches involve different methodologies and provide different explanations/results of different situations. Research shows that sometimes meaningful generalizations from data analysis cannot be made. On the other hand, this result is not supported by majority of the research studies (Saunders et al., 2003).

In the context of this research, the concept of teenage mothers and educational advancement is a relatively novel concept and it is slowly finding its place in the research community. For that reason, the current literature does not fully reveal sound theoretical frameworks with regards to the phenomenon. The use of the method of induction will help this study add a new methodological dimension to the literature. The data gathered from the surveys will be used and analyzed (Saunders et al., 2003).

Furthermore, the results will be compared with existing theories available in the current literature. This will help us understand how close the theoretical world is with the real world and what newer concepts can be added in the existing theories of educational advancements of teenage mothers. The advantage of using both, induction and deduction, as research approaches is that they will help us limit the dependency on over generalizations (Saunders et al., 2003).

After taking into consideration, all vital and significant angles of this study, it seems that the best research approach available is the induction. The inductive approach will help us understand how well theory and practice fit one another. Newer theoretical dimensions will be added into the existing literature.

Research Strategy

The main components of a research strategy format, according to Saunders et al. (2003), are explaining the method that will used in the research which will enable the researcher to attain his aims, describing all the backup and resources that will be utilized in the collection of the required information as well as the shortcomings and hurdles during the collection process.

The most fruitful method to conduct this form of research will most likely be the survey method. The survey method has, over the years, proven itself to be one of the most efficient methods of calculations for any social research. It helps the researcher formulate, distribute and/or ask relevant questions from the target audience or sample. It allows the researcher to choose from two different and all-encompassing methods: 1) interviews and 2) questionnaires (Trochim, 2006).

Trochim (2006), in his study explains that a survey has the flexibility to range from a short-scaled simple written response to an all-inclusive face-to-face profound interview which is what makes the survey such an important fragment of research. The standardized and exploratory format of interview will be most useful for this form of research complemented by the close-ended and structured questionnaire.

Time Horizons and Research Type

This research is mainly an investigation of the influence of teen pregnancy and parenting on the educational advancement of a girl child in Buea-Cameroon. This is a cross-sectional study since it focuses on the relationship of the aforementioned variables in the present moment. A cross-sectional study can be defined as a description taken of a particular situation/phenomenon at a specific time (Saunders et al., 2003). The research pays due attention to the developmental strategies that have been introduced with the new methods proposed and the overall potential of these new methods.

The overall nature of the study is merely exploratory so that the researcher can have the freedom to mix and match or jumble up the questions to get a more in-depth and adaptable approach to attaining the information needed to make appropriate conclusions. Saunders et al. (2003) explains how this is necessary and significant if and when during the research process the researcher comes across some new and unpredictable data and needs to adapt quickly. The general misconception with this approach is that the study lacks focus and direction; on the other hand, the fact of the matter is that this form of study is merely more encompassing and broad in its overall approach and tends to narrow down the primary aim and objectives in the latter stages of the research.

Data Collection Methods

The qualitative structure, as described by Bouma (2000) in his study, is mainly designed to comprehend the characteristics of a social setting as well the norms, beliefs, thoughts and principles that exist within that social setting (Bouma, 2000). Saunders et al. (2003), in their study, highlight that the qualitative approach of the research allows the researcher to suppose some of the more common and informal links between the different factors. They further explain that the qualitative approach can help the researcher comprehend and find the basis of preferences, outlooks and judgements of the sample (Saunders et al., 2003).

Other researchers have also pointed out some of the advantages of the qualitative form of research. Bouma (2000) in his research explains that the researcher has the flexibility to constantly evaluate and analyze the data that he/she has collected while he/she is collecting it and change or amend whatever he/she feels during the process. Furthermore, the researcher has a closer contact with the sample/respondents and is able to better understand their reasons and has the chance to investigate deeper into newer relevant issues that had not caught his/her attention before starting the research process (Bouma, 2000).

Yin (1994) points out that the importance of the qualitative format is even more for the newer social setups as the overall approaches, inclinations and decisions made by institution cannot merely be understood through quantitative or statistical data (Yin, 1994).

This study also looks at the strategies and theories that had been developed and confirmed by previous researches. This will be done so that we can attain a clear pathway on what will be the best collection process and follow up with an efficient and thorough evaluation of the conclusions that will be made through the survey.

The standardized and exploratory format of interviews will be used as the main basis for collecting all the necessary data required to attain the aims of the study. All the additional information that will be needed will be gathered with the help of the questionnaires. All previous researches have explained that the interview format was perhaps the most useful way if the researcher was looking to get detailed and profound information. Also, interviews are considered to get a guaranteed honest response whereas other forms of surveys are bound to get stale or low responses due to lack of personalized interaction.

Easterby-Smith et al. (2002), in their study, have also supported the structured and semi-structured interview formats in three different research types: 1) the research where the possible assembling or judgement behind the question is bound to change from person to person, 2) the research type where the nature of the question is open-ended or intricate and 3) the research type where there is a large array or set of questions (Saunders et al., 2003).

Yin (1994) concludes that the primary advantage of the interview format is that it allows focused interactions between the interviewer and the respondent and that it allows the researcher to focus chiefly on the categories and topics within the central topic. In addition to that the interview format gives the researcher more sensitivity or intuition on the background of the respondents and hence helps in making more concrete suppositions which cannot be achieved in any other form of research method. The disadvantage, however, with the interview format is that it can be prejudiced in the way that its formatted or the answers of the respondents can be prejudicial. Also, there is a chance that respondents may be impelled to answer in a certain way by the researcher through the designing of his questions or the respondent will answer in the way that they think the researcher wants instead of clearly and honestly expression their point-of-view. The overall imprecision of the data is also a threat if the responses are not recorded during the process and the researcher has to recall most of the exchange (Yin, 1994).

Primary data collection

The main aim of the interview process is three-fold: firstly, it helps the researcher to collect the data and related statistics directly from the source and experience the respondents' thoughts, awareness, inclinations, principles, viewpoints and emotions on the topic of discussion first hand (Tuckman, 1972); secondly, it can help the researcher recognize, authenticate and test the theories or conclusions already made and/or present new theories on the subject; thirdly, it can be used alongside other research methods, as Kerlinger (1970) highlighted, in a complimentary fashion and help the researcher add depth and new dimensions to what the other research studies have already established. The interview might be utilized together with additional methods in a research study. The aforementioned reasons have instigated us to include the interview sessions in this study as it will help us get a clearer picture of why the respondents react a certain way to their surroundings and what they feel needs to be done to improve the situation they are in.

For conducting the study, we will use the standardized and semi-structured form of interview as that will enable us to get more in-depth and flexible data that would be impossible to get with a completely formal or structured interview format or an unstructured format. Plus, since the complemented questionnaire would be structured and formal, all the statistical data that needs to be collected could be gathered from there.

To understand the nature of the semi-structured interviews, it is important to define them first. Saunders et al. (2003), in their study have described the semi-structured interviews as the interaction amid both the interviewer and the respondent. The interviewer has an array of topics and concerns to be discussed with the respondents on which the respondent gives his/her opinion. Riley (1996) in his research explains that this form of interview is based on an overall design which directs the entire interview towards a specified and recognized aim of the research and aims to simultaneously understand the basis of the topic instead of just gaining statistical preferences and data (Riley, 1996).

Yin (1994), in his study, importantly points outs that with the semi-structured and open-ended interviews the researcher can ask the respondents about the hard facts and their outlook on the topic (Yin, 1994). This is the main reason why the semi-structured interviews have gained so much importance and popularity over the years as they can be both formal and informal without having to make drastic changes in the overall setup and allows both the researcher and the respondents to freely express their opinions and discuss what matters to them (Saunders et al., 2003).

The framework was chiefly separated into different sub-categories so that the overall structure would follow rational, coherent and free-flowing instructions that will be derived from the literature review. The subcategories will be finalized after the literature review is completed in this actual thesis.

All the respondents will be given copies of the format of questions before the time for the interview so that they could familiarize themselves with the topic. The format, of course, will not be stringent as the interview allows the respondent to talk about what is more important to him/her. This can lead to additional unprepared questions that can be formulated from the answers of the respondents. The researcher, furthermore, has the choice to conduct the interview with audio and/or video setting upon the consent of the respondent. This can prove to be difficult if the respondent is uncomfortable with having his every word recorded or does not have the desired socially-bound conversational skills (Saunders et al., 2003).

Throughout the interview process, all the answers and opinions of the respondents need to be recorded immediately so that there is no confusing, missing or misinterpreted data in the later stages of the research. Also, it helps the research gain a new dimension if the researcher is able to quote important information from the interview. After the interview sessions have been completed, it will be beneficial to compile a report in order to carry out unbiased and efficient evaluations of the data attained. Also, it is important to ensure and backup complete privacy and confidentiality of the identity of the respondents that will be called for the interviews because of the critical and sensitive nature of the issue and also if the respondents demanded privacy (Saunders et al., 2003).

Questionnaire

1. What has been the impact of anxiety on your educational advancements?

2. What has been the impact of fear on your educational advancements?

3. What coping strategies are you using and what has been its impact on your educational advancements?

4. What has been the impact of your social settings on your educational advancements?

5. What kind of stress did you face and what has been the impact of stress on your educational advancements?

6. What has been the impact of your familial economic issues on your educational advancements?

7. What has been the impact of self-image on your educational advancements?

8. What has been the impact of negative emotions and cognitions on your educational advancements?

9. What has been the impact of your information skills on your educational advancements?

10. Are you alcoholic? What has been its impact on your educational advancements?

Sample Description

This study will choose a small sample size to carry out both questionnaire and interviews. This is because Saunders et al. (2003) reveals that a smaller sample size can be considered more appropriate than a larger one when studying the context and background of a particular situation and/or phenomenon.

Since qualitative research studies mainly deal with the comprehension and understanding of what takes place in a particular setting, the research is always limited by the nature of sampling processes adopted (Bouma, 2000). In line with Saunders et al. (2003) most of the studies, within the context of social research, use non-probability sampling. This is because non-probability sampling offers a wide range of methods founded on subjective reasoning. In the context of this research, in order to fulfil the objectives of this study and answer the research questions, the researcher will take an in depth exploration focusing primarily on a small sample size which will be chosen purposively.

Consequently the research will utilize "purposive" or "judgemental" sampling technique which will allow the researcher to choose the most suitable subjects which can best assist in solving the research questions and aims of this study (Saunders et al., 2003). This kind of sampling, in addition, assists in making certain that the cases are diverse and full of information, and, as a result, the arrangement of the sample will be decided only after the researcher has entered the field. On the other hand, in line with Saunders et al. (2003) the entire population cannot be considered as a statistical representative of this sample.

In addition, since the survey (both interviews and questionnaire) will be a fundamental source of the confirmation/verification which will be founded on human affairs; they will be accounted and understood with tremendous care and experienced respondents who can offer vital insights into the phenomenon will be of enormous value to the study. Moreover, the aims and objectives of the interviews and questionnaire will be to offer a descriptive outline of what is "typical" in context of teenage mothers and it will not be definitive. For that reason the interviewees will be selected from distinctive cases so as to be good representatives of the occurrence being studied.

Taking into consideration the problems of identifying one teenage mother who will show willingness to be surveyed by the researcher along with the time and budget restraints, a non-random sample may be selected. The subject will be identified by personal connections through the societal enclave and the interviews will be organized unofficially with the assistance of societal networks.

Data Quality Issues

With the intention of reducing the probability of getting inaccurate answers Saunders et al. (2003) proposes researchers to give specific consideration to both reliability and validity of the research design of the study.

Reliability deals with the probability of different researches coming to the same conclusion when calculating with identical devices. In reality, concerns of reliability signify dilemmas and problems in the precision as well as the correctness of the measuring/calculating device (Bouma, 2000).

Adhering to this perception, Saunders et al. (2003) specifies the concerns of biases which can be associated with reliability. He states that the interviewee or subject's bias is primarily triggered by views about the interviewer/researcher and is particularly obvious in semi-structured interviews where the researcher is inclined to investigate events/proceedings and look for explanations (Saunders et al., 2003). In this instance, despite the fact that the interviewer will attempt to acquire the trust of the interviewees prior to the interview, but it is clear that the interviewees will be mindful to the thorough exploration of specific topics and might choose not to reveal and put forward certain features of the topic. In addition, it can be sensed that the interviewees do not respond to the questions with neutrality and in fact attempt to exemplify a positive picture of the situation.

Conversely validity and generalizations deal with "how accurately a variable fits a concept" and is generally heightened in the formation of the interview questions to determine a person's behaviours, values and/or beliefs (Bouma, 2000, p.85). Taking into consideration the outcome of this research study, Yin (1994) proposes that it is feasible to generalize case studies to hypothetical propositions; however, not to populations and the objective of the studier is to relate and develop theories but not to reveal frequencies. On the other hand, the researcher perceives that social sciences does not have static regulations and that there are abundant variables which influence the outcome of a particular research and for that reason it is near impossible to pledge that upcoming researches on the same topic will produce identical results. Consequently the results from this research study will not be generalised and this situation will be suitably applied to the study herein.

Analysing the Data

Interview and questionnaire

Keeping in view that qualitative data is not gathered with a standardised method similar to that of quantitative, it has got to be divided into categories so as to be analysed significantly and even though there are numerous research customs and diverse strategies and tactics for managing and calculating qualitative data, there is no standardised method (Saunders et al., 2003). In this research the wide-ranging strategy that will be utilized for data analysis is reliant on hypothetical propositions, which basically means that this study will pursue the original propositions on which the (1) aims and objectives and (2) design of the case study were founded upon and had produced the data collection method (Yin, 1994). With the aim of successfully analyzing the gathered data, the survey results will be first classified in almost the identical order that the theories will be described in the literature review. Thereafter, in the discussion chapter (chapter 4) the researcher will attempt to explain the research questions and purposes which transformed the concentration of the research (Saunders et al., 2003).

Results and Discussion

With regards to the first questions of the impact of anxiety on the subject's educational advancements; the respondent pointed out that she sometimes misbehaved with her teachers as well as classmates. Furthermore, she also argued quite a lot with her parents, mother in particular. This affected her academic performance negatively. However, during the times when she was relaxed she found positive response, particularly from her parents. This corresponds to the results of Singh and Darroch (2000) who stated that teenage mothers with higher anxiety levels tend to get more involved in problematic situations and raise serious mannerism concerns, they tend to be unpopular and ostracized by their contemporaries, have inferior levels of the educational advancement, and their grades and academic attitudes suffers a lot more as opposed to those adolescents who are less anxious.

With regards to the second question of the impact of fear on the subject's educational advancements; the respondent answered that she suffered from traumatic attacks very frequently. This was mainly because of the declining health of her baby. However, once the baby got better she felt a lot better and that it did not have a deep impact on her educational goals. This response contradicted Singh and Darroch (2000) results who asserted that teenage mothers who suffered from frequent traumatic attacks were highly prone to lower levels of educational advancements.

With regards to the third question of the impact of coping strategies on the subject's educational advancements; the respondent answered that she underwent an identity crisis before the child was born (during pregnancy), however later on she felt a lot better because by that time she started to get a lot of social support. During the tough times, she was very sarcastic and corny with everyone who did not approve of her pregnancy and distanced herself from them until they gave a positive outlook. This answer is in line with Weinstock, Stuart, and Willard (2004) who stated that the phase of turning from an adolescent to a teenage parent is the phase where the identity crises occur for most children and where coping strategies are designed and developed.

With regards to the forth question of the impact of the subject's social settings on her educational advancements; the respondent answered that she is very strong internally and that even though she initially was ridiculed and mistreated and misunderstood, she went through that phase very bravely and was very domineering and competitive. She stated that the negative behavior did not affect her educational advancements that much. This answer is inline with the results of a number of studies pointed out in the aforementioned section (for example see; Marsh, 1990a; Harter, 1983, and Wylie, 1979)

With regards to the fifth question of the impact of stress on her educational advancements; the respondent answered that she found a lot of support from the mother friends and that reduced a great deal of stress on most occasions and did not affect her educational advancements negatively. This answer is in line with the results of Albert (2004) who found that teenage mothers feel stress when they are disconnected with their mothers and peers and do not receive any support form them.

With regards to the sixth question of the impact of your familial economic issues on her educational advancements; the respondent replied that she comes from a middle class family background and that personal economic issues had not bothered her very much as her father took care of most of the costs associated with motherhood. In addition she did a part time job, which eased the burden on her father. However, the part-time job meant that she could not give due time to her education and therefore this slowed the process considerably. This answer is in line with Albert (2004) who found that economic strains negatively impact the educational advancements of teenage mothers.

With regards to the seventh question of the impact of self-image on the subjects educational advancements; the respondent asserted that she found support from her mother and father and that augmented her self-image. She further asserted that had this not been the case she would have suffered tremendously. This response is in sync with Matsuhashi, Felice, Shragg, Hollingsworth (1989) who found that the boosters or aggravated causes of educational advancement could be due to the social status, social acceptance, parental attitude, parental support and cooperation, individuals' own maturity and developed attitude towards puberty or menstruation.

With regards to the eighth question of the impact of negative emotions and cognition on her educational advancements; the subject replied that she seldom felt negative emotions and very rarely went into negative mental states and thinking. This, she stated was primarily due to the support she received from her parents and peers. Negative emotions and mental states did not affect her educational advancements; in fact the opposite can be said is true. This response is inline with Cote and Allahar (1994) who stated that constant sadness or despair leads to lower educational attainment and Clement and Myles (1994) who found that negative mental states (or depression) leads to limited educational advancements.

With regards to the ninth seventh question of the impact of the subjects information skills on her educational advancements; the respondent pointed out that her memory, recalling ability and her sense of understanding the concepts was very broad and deep and helped her tremendously in maintaining decent educational standards. This she stated was primarily due to the social support she received after she became a mother. This response is in line with Wadhera and Millar (1997) who found that non-depressed teenage mothers were able to remember and understand concepts more profoundly than depressed teenage mothers.

With regards to the tenth question of the impact of alcoholism; the subject replied that she does not drink or use drugs. This social behavior has helped her positively in achieving her educational goals. This answer is inline with the analysis presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2005) who stated that drugs and alcohol negatively influenced educational advancements of teenage mothers.

Conclusion

Teenage motherhood has been thoroughly studied and its connections with educational advancements have been widely reported. The aim of this paper was to highlight the influence of teen pregnancy and parenting on the educational advancement of a girl child in Buea-Cameroon. This was done in order to assist interventionists in formulating a more profound theory and strategy to tackle this growing social dilemma. Substantial progress has been made over the years to understand both these phenomenon both separately and jointly. It is hoped that this study deepens and broadens the understanding of teenage motherhood and educational advancements and add to existing knowledge in the literature.