Mother-child relating: an intergenerational perspective

[摘要] English: This qualitative study aimed to explore and describe how mothers' own childhood experience of mother-child relating shapes their mothering of the next generation. While secure attachment is recognized to be an important determinant of psychological wellbeing, South Africa's socio-economic circumstances pose challenges to the forging of such health promoting bonds for many children. Intergenerational transmission of parenting patterns can either enhance or decrease the likelihood of mothers being able to offer attachment security to their children. The question of how mothers experience and possibly even direct or regulate this intergenerational transmission has been less researched, with few studies in the South African context. This is therefore the focus of this study. Seven participants, all the biological mothers of at least one child in the developmental phase of middle childhood, were purposively selected from a small peri-urban town in the Eastern Cape. Each participant engaged in two semi-structured interviews, and attended two focus groups, over a one-year time span. Six rich cases and the focus groups were identified for analysis. Analysis of the data was according to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). An intergenerational and attachment literature lens was used in the final stages of interpretation to conceptualize the findings. Thorough elucidation of the findings yielded six themes of significance across the cases, which were presented in a model. These are intention, reflection, central positioning, enactment, individuality and change. The results indicate that the experiences of the participants were multi-faceted, with both rewarding and challenging dimensions. Participants reported identifying within themselves the intention of improving their mothering, based on their childhood experience of mother-child relating. This was achieved through reflection processes, although the extent and depth of reflection varied. In addition, by making use of the 'central positioning' of themselves between their children and their mothers, participants showed how they gained insight into intergenerational processes, which enabled them to establish aspects requiring change. This awareness was operationalized as enactment in the form of either compensatory or over-compensatory approaches.The manner in which the mothers sift, organize and make meaning of the phenomena of mothering and being mothered is achieved through the four mutually influencing themes of reflection, intention, enactment and central positioning. Reflection acts as a backdrop against which the other three themes interact and shapes how they inform each other. These themes are then filtered through a layer which consists of the theme of individuality, incorporating factors specific to the participants' intrapsychic structure and life context. Culture is an important aspect of this contextual experience. The product of the sifting andfiltering process is a unique, individualized meaning which in all participants also showed change, the final theme. This change occurred either in themselves or in their approach to and practice of mothering.The results of this research have theoretical and practical significance. A contribution is made towards addressing the gap in the literature relating to the intergenerational focus of mothering. In particular, this provides insight into how mothers' childhood experience shapes the mother-child relationship in the next generation, in the South African context. The study captures an in-depth, nuanced understanding of these issues and develops a conceptual model. The accessibility of the conceptual model for those with little background in psychology has implications for implementation, as it could be valuable in promotingunderstanding among mothers of how their own experience informs the way in which they relate to their children. This, with further research, can be generalized to any caregiver involved in the raising of children, which would be particularly important in the South African context.

[发布机构] University of the Free State