[Social representation of pregnancy in adolescence: appraisal of dominant attitudes and others of negative impact]. / Les représentations sociales de la grossesse à l'adolescence: des prises de position dominantes et d'autres...déstabilisantes.

This study was undertaken to gather information on the social representations of teenage pregnancy among adolescents, aged between 15 and 17. Eighteen focus groups were conducted among 150 boys and girls. The data were subjected to a qualitative content analysis. Results show that youths did not form homogeneous groups. The points of view expressed gave rise to 4 dimensions (emotive, reflexive, psychobiological, economic-social) and 4 positions (negative, positive, ambivalent and dynamic). From these dimensions and positions, 4 representations of teenage pregnancy were identified: pregnancy as a problem, pregnancy as a project, pregnancy as a source of tension, and pregnancy as a source of power. This study illustrates the importance of educative strategies such as going beyond alarmist preventive messages, opening dialogue with and between youngsters, and promoting social support and mutual aid.

[The social representation of pregnancy in adolescence. A Quebec study. ]. / Les représentations sociales de la grossesse à l'adolescence: une étude québécoise.

OBJECTIVE: To gather information on the themes underlying social representations of teenage pregnancy among adolescent girls and boys and people working with them (health/social/school workers). METHOD: A qualitative approach was used. Adolescents and health/social/school workers were gathered separately in focus groups. A content analysis of their discourses was done. RESULTS: This study shows that adolescents and health/social/school workers were not homogeneous groups. Their representations on teenage pregnancy varied and were sometimes contradictory. Several points of view were expressed that gave rise to four distinct positions: negative, positive, ambivalent and dynamic. It is from these four positions that four social representations of teenage pregnancy were defined: pregnancy as a problem, pregnancy as a project, pregnancy as a tension, pregnancy as a gain of power. Within these four representations, the discourses were divided into four dimensions: emotional, introspective, psychobiological and socio-economic. DISCUSSION: The similarities and divergences between the discourses of adolescents and those of health/social/school workers reveal that the representations of teenage pregnancy are neither preconceived nor unalterable. They have functional properties of adaptation to changing realities, individual conditions, ongoing events, times of crisis and diverse social and cultural grounds. This study presents a new perspective on the topic of teenage pregnancy and questions people's attitude and relationship with teenagers with respect to this issue.

[Evaluation of personal empowerment: development of a scale of psychologic indices of power (MIPPA)]. / L'Evaluation de l'empowerment des personnes: développement d'une Mesure d'indices psychosociologiques du pouvoir d'agir (MIPPA).

This article presents the results of a series of studies devoted to creating an empowerment scale. The scale has been constructed from a dedicated conceptual framework and several empirical studies carried out over the last 5 years, designed to evaluate its conceptual articulation, linguistic properties, and psychometric qualities. Results show a scale composed of three factors that are conceptually distinct and consistent with the literature on the subject.