Depressed women's emotional experiences of the mother-child relationship : perspectives from a low-income South African community

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The present research study formed part of a larger longitudinal project concerned withlow-income South African women's subjective experiences of depression (Lourens &Kruger, 2013). The present study specifically focussed on how depressed womenexperienced their relationships with their children. The study aimed to provide a descriptiveoverview of how one group of depressed South African mothers experience theirrelationships with their children, as well as to compare the findings with existing literature.Therefore, the scope of this study does not include in-depth analyses of findings.While numerous researchers have examined and identified the important negativeeffects of depression in mothers on children during the past decade, a very limited number ofstudies have been focussed on the opposite direction of the depressed mother-childrelationship. Very few studies have explored how relationships with their children mayinfluence the development and subjective experience of depression and emotional distress inmothers, as well as, on the other hand, may protect against depression and emotional distress(Dix & Meunier, 2009; Greig & Howe, 2001; Leung & Slep, 2006; Rishel, 2012; Turney,2012). The present study attempted to address this gap in the literature.The feminist social constructionist perspective was utilised as theoretical framework(De Vos, Strydom, Fouché, & Delport, 2011). Consistent with social constructionism, thestudy was conducted within the qualitative research paradigm (De Vos et al., 2011).Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants most suitable for the aims of the study(APA Dictionary of Psychology, 2007).Data were collected by means of in-depth semi-structured interviews. A semistructuredinterview schedule was utilised as data collection instrument. Each interview wasrecorded by video camera, as well as by voice recorder, in order to ensure back-uprecordings. The interviews were then transcribed. Social constructionist grounded theorywas used to analyse the data (Charmaz, 1995).The results indicated that the depressed women and children in this study seem to bedifferent from the stereotype of the depressed mothers and children in the literature.Depressed mothers are typically portrayed in the literature as not able to form a close andsecure bond with their children, while the children of depressed mothers are almost alwaysportrayed in the literature as showing behavioural and emotional problems, as well as being'parentified (Coyne & Thompson, 2011; Dix & Meunier, 2009; Turney, 2012). Althoughthe depressed women in the present study did report child factors which contributed to their depression, they - to the contrary - also emphasised that their children are an importantprotective factor against their experience of depression. The participants also highlighted thatthey have the ability to be protective, supportive and caring towards their children, despitetheir depressive symptoms. The majority of depressed women also described a 'very goodmother-child relationship. As such, the participants in the present study showed us a brighterpicture of the depressed mother-child relationship.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University