Wielenga, L. M.(2002).

Black teenage pregnancy and the divine child: A depth psychological approach to a cultural problem

Underprivileged, Black teenaged girls face the dilemma of becoming pregnant, which transports them from their world of growth into responsibilities of adulthood for which they are unprepared. All too often, these dilemmas result in nearly unbearable suffering and a lifetime of dependency and failure to be integrated into society. Worse yet, the social conditions which result from Black teenage pregnancy tend to perpetuate this problem for the offspring and for further generations.

When addressing this problem, I decided to use an artistic methodology, which allowed me the freedom to incorporate heuristic and hermeneutic research while offering personal life stories in the form of memoirs. Initially, heuristic research was the path I had planned to take. But as the process began to work me, I considered hermeneutic research. Once I began to see myself as a part of this work, using an artistic methodology was what I knew I was supposed to do. The artistic method gave me the freedom to tell my story in the memoirs that are a part of this dissertation.

Having come in contact with so many Black teens who are considered "at risk," living in group homes, or pregnant, I was able to accept my past for what it was and accept myself for who I used to be. I allowed myself to go through my life using stories and the imaginal, going deep inside and realizing my connection with the girls I have come to know; learning our likenesses and feeling my pain, which is their pain as well. I have needed love from a mother and father that I have never received. These pregnant teens are looking for that identical love. But we all fail to realize that the love we seek is not in our parents, the fathers of our children, or our babies. It lives in the center of our souls. The love we need is the love we've always had.