How would a symbolic interactionist view pregnancy within teens???

Question

how could i explain teen pregnancy from a symbolic interactionist point of view???

please help,

10 points for best answer

Answer 1

Symbolic interactionism is a micro-sociological theory. A symbolic interactionist focuses on the way people react to eachother based on external cues. For example, if someone is wearing a priest's collar, before even speaking to him, you will probably assume he's a priest and treat him differently than your casual friends.

Usually, when someone sees a girl that they perceive as pregnant and "too young," they immediately treat her differently or make assumptions about her sense of responsibility. They discredit her opinions or morality. Of course, she's no more irresponsible than the guy who got her pregnant, but he doesn't carry a mark of it everywhere he goes so he is not treated any differently.

A real-life example of this: I saw a girl in public the other day that was pregnant and couldn't have been older than 16. But she was wearing very heavy eye make-up, and you could tell that she was trying really hard to look older. Imagine her experiences shopping for clothes at maternity stores and the employees giving her dirty looks. She knew that people have been staring at her and treating her worse, so she was trying to combat this negative perception by adding external cues to contradict her age. This is what a symbolic interactionist would be interested in.

Answer 2

I think they would react like this- society says teen pregnancy is wrong, that means that teen pregnancy is wrong therefore pregnant teens are deviants and should be treated as such. I am not totally sure so check the links and see if that is right.