Suphawadee Panthumas. A structural equation model of the maternal identity among primiparous teenage mothers under the 5th health region catchment area of Thailand. Doctoral Degree(Family Health). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2018.
A structural equation model of the maternal identity among primiparous teenage mothers under the 5th health region catchment area of Thailand
Abstract:
Maternal identity, MI, remains the attainment of maternal role adaptation. Though the role of motherhood is expected to play, teenagers are still developing on personal identity and do not always clearly identify the role of the mother. The cross-sectional correlation study aimed to (1) assess the MI, and (2) develop the structural equation model of MI among primiparous teenage mothers. The samples were 353 primiparous Thai teenagers who were pregnant under the age of 20 years, residing together with their infants aged between 4 and 12 months under the catchment area of the 5th Health Region. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire, reliability coefficients of six scales ranged from 0.81 to 0.93 and construct validity was verified. A structural equation modeling technique was performed to test the causal model of MI to empirical data undertaken using Mplus Software. The result revealed that almost 60% of the subjects were at a good level of overall MI score followed by about 35%, and 5% at moderate and poor levels, respectively. The causal model of MI provided fit well to the empirical data (χ2/df = 2.17, CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.05). A set of antecedent factors of the model explained 62% of the variance in MI. Three constructs, i.e., infant temperament, strain, and social support had a direct effect on MI (path coefficient = 0.47, -0.42, 0.12, respectively) while the self-esteem and balanced family functioning had an indirect effect on MI. The infant temperament had the highest total effect on MI and the strain was an important mediator of the model. The findings led to recommendations that the maternal and child health policy makers should establish a policy to strongly promote the quality of MI during the one-year postpartum period of teenage mothers. Health providers or home health care team should have well-planned and powerful activities, both in the health agency and community that could be managed to increase self-esteem of teenage mothers, whose effect is to decrease their strain while promoting positive perception of their infants' temperament. Nevertheless, the expectation of the teenage mother toward her spouse and family's response must be given heed along with increasing social support especially emotional and appraisal support to diminish their strain and further develop their MI.