Understanding Communication Patterns Within the Teen Mom’s Environment

Abstract

Interpersonal communications within the female teens' environment particularly the patterns between them and their parents greatly influence the female teens' behaviors. In this study, communication patterns were reviewed with the aim of explaining the cause of risky behaviors leading to teen pregnancies – the parenting styles, themes, and barriers in communications that drive female teens towards them and the consequent changes after teen pregnancy occurs. Utilizing a qualitative sampling of female teens and their experiences with teenage pregnancies, the mass of data gathered in the conduct of interviews are transcribed and analyzed using the Miles & Huberman method. The findings were organized around themes that explained the dynamics between the sample teens and their environment before and post-pregnancies. In analyzing this, the effect of communication barriers or noise posited in the Transactional Communications Model by J. Wood was used. The study reveals that limitations in communications between parents and female teens start at home, in the limited discussions about sex within Filipino families. This pattern changes after pregnancy, where the barriers identified in the research became relaxed. The study recommends development of intervention programs to minimize teen pregnancies and improve communication patterns particularly between the parents and their female teens.