Abstract

HUERTA MATA, Rosa María. Single mothers at university: social support networks and maternal identity. Intersticios sociales [online]. 2019, n.17, pp.203-231. ISSN 2007-4964.

The aim of this article is to analyze how the relationships of young single mothers with their support networks participate in configuring their maternal identity in university settings. We traced the life histories of 8 young single mothers enrolled in undergraduate programs at the School of Chemical Sciences of the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí.

The arrangements that these women negotiate with their main support network -i.e., the family of origin- and their attendance at university where they seek to obtain the professional training that will allow them to enter the working world and become providers, are two fundamental elements in the formation of their maternal identity at university. Within the space of the agreements forged with their support network, these women exercise a multiple maternity as they strive to achieve economic and residential independence, while practicing an agency that aims towards the future.

Keywords : social support networks; correspondence agreements; agency capacity; university maternal identity; single mothers.

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