“It Was Just Really Hard to Be Pregnant in a Smaller Town …”: Pregnant and Parenting Teenagers’ Perspectives of Social Support in Their Rural Communities

Teenage pregnancy has a history of being a “social problem” in the United States, with there being higher rates in rural communities. Social support, a contributor to improving mental health outcomes, can significantly impact a teenager’s pregnancy and parenting experience. Using House’s (1981) social support framework, this study explores the teenagers’ perceptions of how their rural community reacted and responded to them as pregnant and parenting teenagers. The results were formulated through the thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews (n = 26) with current and former pregnant and/or parenting teenagers. The participants reported experiencing both positive and negative social support. There were more reports of emotional support and instrumental support among the forms of positive support than there were in the other categories. Informational support was lacking. The appraisal support from community members was negative. There is a need for rural communities to develop effective social support strategies to provide positive support for pregnant and parenting teenagers.