Overcoming Barriers and Finding Strengths: The Lives of College Students as Single Mothers

Abstract

Single parenting among teenage students in undergraduate school faces a variety of challenges in both a parent and a student responsibility and even dream of becoming a successful woman someday to sustain the basic needs of their children. The design of this study consists of twelve (12) interview questions with student single mothers who were currently enrolled in Mindanao State University, Marawi City. During the pilot interview, seven (7) questions were adopted from the study of Ajandi (2011) until the researchers came up with twelve (12) interview questions due to the follow-up questions being made and observed during the pilot-testing interview. The selected five single mother students were from the three colleges in the University, two from the College of Education, another two from the College of Business Administration, and one from the College of Engineering. The data offer an insight into the challenges faced by young women and the insights on how they passed those challenges or barriers of becoming a student and single parent at the same time. The narratives also serve as an exploration framework for the strengths and weaknesses and the factors that most influenced their ability to continue their studies. Through a thematic analysis, the study found that these single mothers are more motivated to continue their studies to support their children in the future. They also revealed that no matter how many hardships they face, these single mothers become tougher when they think of their children. A love of a mother to her children motivated them to strive harder. The study shows that further investigation into family dynamics is needed regarding the nurturing the success of a teen mother.