Resolving the Unique Situation: Consequences for Identity and Psychological Well-Being

Teen pregnancy regularly brings about numerous changes in the life of the young mother. The most salient problem for teenage mothers, for example, is the lack of a supportive community. First, we will attempt to explain how little support from a community can lead to low levels of well-being. Secondly, we suggest solutions to overcome this problem. We propose that the young mothers perceive their situation as a Unique Situation. We advance the idea that the perception of living through a Unique Situation brings the young mothers to compare their situation to the one before their pregnancy, resulting in a decrease in well-being. This paper theorizes that by sharing a Unique Situation with others living through a similar situation, social comparisons will become available and consequently higher levels of well-being will be experienced.