Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ph5wq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T12:55:07.046Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Developmental themes in women's emotional experiences of motherhood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2001

SUNIYA S. LUTHAR
Affiliation:
Teachers College, Columbia University
KIMBERLY DOYLE
Affiliation:
Teachers College, Columbia University
NANCY E. SUCHMAN
Affiliation:
Yale University School of Medicine
LINDA MAYES
Affiliation:
Yale Child Study Center

Abstract

In this study, women's levels of ego development and their psychological difficulties were examined in relation to feelings in the maternal role. The sample consisted of 91 mothers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Ego development was assessed by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test, and psychological difficulties were operationalized by self-reported global symptomatology, maternal substance abuse, and expressed anger. Outcome variables included feelings of satisfaction, distress, and support in the maternal role, as well as the degree to which negative and positive emotions were integrated in response to hypothetical vignettes of challenging everyday child-rearing experiences. Hypotheses were that women at high levels of ego development would show greater deterioration in the presence versus absence of self-reported adjustment problems than would those at lower levels. A series of interaction effects each indicated trends consistent with the hypotheses. These results add to accumulating evidence that tendencies toward self-examination, characteristic of high developmental levels, do not inevitably serve protective functions but may be linked with heightened reactivity to negative intrapsychic forces.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)