Adult Daughters' Relationships with Their Mothers and Reactions to the Mothers' Deaths

This paper examines the reactions of 46 adult women to the deaths of their elderly mothers. Content analysis of interview and questionnaire data revealed that a daughter's ability to resolve the grief associated with her mother's death was significantly affected by the kind of relationship she had had with her mother when the mother was alive. Women whose grief reactions were more resolved were more likely to have had close, mutually accepting relationships with their mothers. Women whose reactions remained unresolved one to five years af~erth e death were more likely to have had relationships that were ambivalent, conflictual, or emotionally distant. These findings provide new evidence of the important influence that mother-daughter relationships have throughout women's lives.     

Women’s experiences of care and support following perinatal death in high burden countries: A metasynthesis

ProblemThe experiences of women in low and middle-income countries following perinatal death remains difficult and challenging, thereby increasing their susceptibility to negative psychological impact particularly with insufficient bereavement care and support.BackgroundPerinatal death invariably brings intense grief which significantly impacts women, and requires adequate bereavement care to limit negative outcomes in the short and long-term.AimTo develop deeper understanding of women’s experience of care and support following perinatal death in high burden settings.MethodsSix electronic databases were searched with relevant terms established using the SPIDER tool, supplemented by hand search of reference lists. Studies were independently screened for inclusion by all authors. Meta-ethnography (Noblit and Hare,1988) was used to synthesise existing qualitative studies.FindingsEight studies conducted in Sub-Saharan African and South Asian countries namely South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, India and Malawi were included, and three main themes were identified; mothers’ reaction to their baby’s death, care and support after perinatal death, and coping strategies in the absence of care and support. Perinatal death was not appropriately acknowledged therefore care and support was inadequate and, in some cases, non-existent. Consequently, mothers resorted to adopting coping strategies as they were unable to express their grief.DiscussionThere is insufficient care and support for women following perinatal death in high burden settings.ConclusionsFurther research is required into the care and support being given by healthcare professionals and families in high burden settings, thereby ultimately aiding the development of guidance on perinatal bereavement care.     

Supplementary child health services. Part III. Infant welfare centres

The findings of the Maternity Survey on the use of infant welfare centres were confirmed in the Follow-up Survey carried out two years later. 68.7% of all the survey mothers used centres, and the children of manual workers (72.0%) and of the black-coated workers (71.4%) were taken more than those of the professional and salaried (59.7 %).

Attendance at centres was more common in the towns than in the rural areas, where mothers often had to travel considerable distances to centres.

The more experienced mothers with several children used centres less than the primiparae. Even so, 61.8% of the wives of manual workers with four or more children had taken their babies at some time before the second birthday.

The average date of first attendance was about 7 weeks after confinement, except for the agricultural workers' wives who made their first attendance at 12.6 weeks. The mothers who intended to use the centres usually made an early start in the first two or three months. Those who made their initial visit later probably came for advice on specific disorders or else for diphtheria immunisation.

Those who made frequent and regular attendances usually started at an early date. There was a general falling off in attendance as the children grew older; over one-third of urban working class mothers with less than four children who used centres at all, did not attend once in the second year, and the attendances of the remainder were less frequent. This lapsing represents a failure of the child health services which needs to be remedied.

The group of working class women who made frequent and regular use of centres even after the first birthday appeared to be among the most conscientious and careful mothers, according to the health visitors' estimates of the bodily care of their babies, and their records on post-natal care and diphtheria immunisation. More detailed studies are required to discover whether other factors have any appreciable influence on continued attendance at centres.

When more adequate premises and more staff become available the problem of persuading a larger proportion of mothers to continue making regular attendances at centres will have to be faced.     

Cognitive Adaptation and Women's Adjustment to Conjugal Bereavement

ABSTRACT

Conjugal bereavement is experienced by the majority of older women in enduring relationships. Although most experience considerable distress in the immediate aftermath of this loss, the majority adjusts over the course of time. The current study of self-selected participants applies the theory of cognitive adaptation in an attempt to distinguish between women who have successfully adjusted to the death of their husbands versus those who exhibit prolonged distress. Results of this study suggest that positivity biases in personally relevant information processing (i.e., self-deception, marital aggrandizement, dispositional optimism) are significantly associated with life satisfaction and the absence of psychiatric distress. The contribution of cognitive adaptation is maintained over and above that provided by personality variables (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience). Intervention strategies to treat enduring distress among widowed women are considered on the basis of these findings.     

Spiritual needs of mothers with sick new born or premature infants—A cross sectional survey among German mothers

Background

Spirituality is part of the basic needs of all humans, yet often undervalued by health professionals. Less is known about the spiritual needs of mothers of preterm or sick new born children.

Experiencing Undesired Daily Life Events,Instrumental Functioning,Social Support and Well-Being of Israeli Elderly Women: Comparison Between Caregivers/Non-Caregivers for Adult Children with Mental Retardation

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which 160 mothers who care for an adult child with mental retardation differ in respect to undesired daily life events, instrumental functioning, social support and well-being from a comparably matched group of age peers. Findings indicated that caregivers for adult children with mental retardation reported more undesired daily life events in comparison to the matched group. However, no differences were found in respect to their instrumental functioning, social support and well-being. A detailed analysis showed significant variations in measures of undesired daily life events and social support.     

Knowing how to help: Grandmothers’ experiences of providing and receiving support following their child’s pregnancy loss

ProblemPregnancy loss is a distressing experience for parents, however no research has addressed grandmothers’ experiences of grief and support following a child’s pregnancy loss.BackgroundNo research has specifically addressed grandmothers’ experiences of support and bereavement care following pregnancy loss.AimThis study seeks to understand three key areas: (1) the support grandmothers provide to their child; (2) the support they received themselves following pregnancy loss, and; (3) supports desired by grandmothers. The study aims to contribute insights into actions midwives could take to support grandmothers following pregnancy loss.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 grandmothers to understand their support experiences. Interviews were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s approach to thematic analysis.FindingsThemes related directly to the three research questions: one: providing support, comprising two themes — being strong, protecting their family and the challenges of knowing how to help. Two, receiving support, also comprised two themes — lack of professional support offered to grandmothers and informal support and self-support strategies. Three, desired support, comprised three themes — I had no idea: increasing knowledge of pregnancy loss, peer support helps: they know how it feels, and honouring our grandchildren, making meaning.DiscussionGrandmothers may give extensive support to their child following pregnancy loss but lack confidence and face challenges in doing so. Few formal supports are available to grandmothers themselves, with grandmothers relying on their social networks for their own support.ConclusionsGrandmothers need early access to information and guidance from midwives and hospital bereavement services, as well as ongoing peer support with flexible delivery options.     

Good Mothers,Bad Mothers

This paper reports on an analysis of representations of child abuse in English-language newspapers in Malaysia. Certain media images of mothers recur: bad mothers who are unable to protect their children; and good mothers, who are feminine representatives of a maternalised national government which is charged with interceding on behalf of abused children. Mothers implicated in child abuse are harshly judged by the maternalist regime. Our findings resonate with previous feminist analyses of child abuse but manifest differently in a non-Western, non-Christian context. In Malaysia, motherhood plays a crucial role in nationalist political culture; women and mothers carry increasing economic, social and political burdens in the rapidly modernising state. Fathers are largely marginal or absent in media reporting of child abuse, while mothers are represented as fully responsible for the care of children, particularly when problems occur. The media's blaming of child abuse on social changes while valorising traditional families reflects a conservative, patriarchal perspective, occluding discussion of the contexts of child abuse and thus mitigating against comprehensive solutions.     

Disparities in Children’s Family Experiences by Mother’s Socioeconomic Status: The Case of Finland

A well-known argument claims that socioeconomic differentials in children’s family structures have become increasingly important in shaping child outcomes and the resources available to children in developed societies. One assumption is that differentials are comparatively small in Nordic welfare states. Our study examines how children’s experiences of family structures and family dynamics vary by their mother’s educational attainment in Finland. Based on register data on the childbearing and union histories of women in Finland born from 1969 onwards, we provide life-table estimates of children’s (N?=?64,162) experiences of family dissolution, family formation, and family structure from ages 0–15 years, stratified by mother’s education level at the child’s birth. We find huge socioeconomic disparities in children’s experiences of family structures and transitions. Compared to children of highly educated mothers, children of mothers with low levels of education are almost twice as likely to be born in cohabitation and four times as likely to be born to a lone mother. They are also much more likely to experience further changes in family structure—particularly parental separation. On average, children of low-educated mothers spend just half of their childhood years living with both their parents, whereas those of high-educated mothers spend four-fifths of their childhood with both parents. The sociodemographic inequalities among children in Nordic welfare states clearly deserve more scholarly attention.     

Diverging Destinies: Maternal Education and the Developmental Gradient in Time With Children

Using data from the 2003?C2007 American Time Use Surveys (ATUS), we compare mothers?? (N = 6,640) time spent in four parenting activities across maternal education and child age subgroups. We test the hypothesis that highly educated mothers not only spend more time in active child care than less-educated mothers but also alter the composition of that time to suit children??s developmental needs more than less-educated mothers. Results support this hypothesis: not only do highly educated mothers invest more time in basic care and play when youngest children are infants or toddlers than when children are older, but differences across education groups in basic care and play time are largest among mothers with infants or toddlers; by contrast, highly educated mothers invest more time in management activities when children are 6 to 13?years old than when children are younger, and differences across education groups in management are largest among mothers with school-aged children. These patterns indicate that the education gradient in mothers?? time with children is characterized by a ??developmental gradient.??     

The effect of children on marital dissolution

The relationship between the presence of children and divorce and separation is examined using data from the first four years of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience in Women Aged 30 to 44. The data show that children were a deterrent to separation and divorce only when they were in the preschool ages. Once all the children in a family were in school, they did not seem to influence the probability of separation and divorce. It is suggested that the high costs of child care for preschool children, in terms of time, money, and effort, act as a deterrent to marital dissolution. The associations between several other social demographic variables and marital dissolution also are investigated.     

Only children as adult women: Life course events and timing

A comparison between adult women who are only children and women who grew up with siblings is performed in relation to life course characteristics (events and timing), using a random sample of Canadian women (birth cohorts 1905–29 and 1930–44) surveyed, by telephone, in Vancouver and Victoria (total n of 1 251, with a response rate of approximately 60 percent). Initial analysis shows that female adult only children are less likely to have large families, more likely to marry and have their first child at older ages, more likely to attain high levels of education, and, among the younger cohort, more likely to cohabitate at younger ages. However, more refined analysis reveals that differences are, for the most part, the result of family of origin variables associated with sibsize rather than the result of only child status per se. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for research within the life course perspective, and in the light of possible changes accompanying population aging.     

Meet the Parents? Family Size and the Geographic Proximity Between Adult Children and Older Mothers in Sweden

The aim of this study is to estimate the causal effect of family size on the proximity between older mothers and adult children by using a large administrative data set from Sweden. Our main results show that adult children in Sweden are not constrained by sibship size in choosing where to live: for families with more than one child, sibship size does not affect child-mother proximity. For aging parents, however, having fewer children reduces the probability of having at least one child living nearby, which is likely to have consequences for the intensity of intergenerational contact and eldercare.     

Does mother’s employment conflict with child development? Multilevel analysis of British mothers born in 1958

Does maternal employment, while children are very young, affect their development? We link cognitive and behavioral scores of school-aged children to mothers’ employment during preschool years using virtually unique data for two generations in the 1958 British birth cohort. Our multivariate, multilevel model controls for mothers’ own cognitive and behavioral scores in childhood. Results are mixed and minor, confirming other British studies at mid-childhood. Reading is, significantly, slightly poorer where less educated mothers work in the child’s first year of life. We found few other interactions with employment but did detect intergenerational transmission of behavioral and cognitive characteristics.     

The effect of divorce on intergenerational transfers: New evidence

This paper draws on new data on intergenerational transfers of time and money that were collected in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We use these data to examine the effects of divorce on these transfers. We find that the timing of divorce is critical. Fathers and mothers involved in late divorces have similar levels of transfers with their adult children, while divorce during a child’s childhood years increases transfers with mothers and sharply lowers them with fathers. Somewhat surprisingly, we find no evidence that divorced fathers who paid child support are more likely to be involved in intergenerational transfers than those who did not pay child support.     

Levels and patterns of infant and child mortality in ghana

This paper attempts to measure infant and child mortality levels and also to determine their structure by utilizing the results of the 1968–1969 National Demographic Sample Survey which was conducted under the directorship of the author. Among the major problems encountered in the exercise are the adjustment of the current raw mortality data and the estimation of infant and child mortality from independent source material. The estimated infant mortality rates range from 56 per 1,000 live births in the Accra Capital District to 192 in the Upper Region during the late 1960’s. The urban rate is lower than the rural rate, 98 as against 161 per 1,000 live births. A large proportion of the deaths among children aged 0–4 occur in the second year of life, and deaths in this age group account for the bulk of the deaths within the age group 1–4 years.     

Parents Transmit Happiness Along with Associated Values and Behaviors to Their Children: A Lifelong Happiness Dividend?

There are strong two-way links between parent and child happiness (life satisfaction), even for ‘children’ who have grown up, moved to their own home and partnered themselves. German panel evidence shows that transmission of (un)happiness from parents to children is partly due to transmission of values and behaviors known to be associated with happiness (Headey et al. in Proc Natl Acad Sci 107(42):17922–17926, 2010, in Soc Indic Res doi:10.1007/s11205-012-0079-8,2012). These values and behaviors include giving priority to pro-social and family values, rather than material values, maintaining a preferred balance between work and leisure, active social and community participation, and regular exercise. Both parents have about equal influence on the values and behaviors which children adopt. However, the life satisfaction of adult ‘children’ continues to be directly influenced by the life satisfaction of their mothers, with the influence of fathers being only indirect, via transmission of values and behaviors. There appears to be a lifelong happiness dividend (or unhappiness dividend) due to parenting. Structural equation models with two-way causation indicate that the life satisfaction of offspring can significantly affect the satisfaction of their parents, as well as vice versa, long after the ‘children’ have left home. Data come from 25 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel Survey (SOEP 1984–2008). SOEP is the only panel survey worldwide in which data on life satisfaction have been obtained from parents and an adequate sub-sample of children no longer living in the parental home.     

Estimating the quality of life for children around the world: NICQL '92

The concept of quality of life (NICQL '92) is presented and illustrated through several formulations. From nine relevant child and adult variables extant in current literature an index of quality of life for children in one hundred and twenty-two (N=122) countries is presented. Characteristics of the top twelve and bottom twelve nations by quality of life for children are given, as are rankings by region and worldwide. The paper discusses application of the NICQL '92 Index to policy questions and to social changes across the decade to the year 2002.     

The impact of adult child emigration on the mental health of older parents

We explore whether older parents of adult children who emigrate experience, in the short term, increases in depressive symptoms and loneliness feelings compared to parents whose children do not migrate. We use data from the first two waves of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, which is a nationally representative sample of 8500 people aged 50 + living in Ireland. To deal with the endogeneity of migration, we apply fixed-effects estimation models and control for a broad range of life events occurring between the two waves. These include the emigration of a child but also events such as bereavement, onset of disease, retirement and unemployment. We find that depressive symptoms and loneliness feelings increase among the parents of migrant children but that the effect is only present for mothers. As the economic burden of mental health problems is high, our findings have potentially significant impacts for migrant-sending regions and countries.     

Experience of hope: An exploratory research with bereaved mothers following perinatal death

ProblemThe negative implications of perinatal death on mothers’ mental health are documented, however little is known about their experience of hope.BackgroundWithin the broader literature, hope has contributed to better mental health and bereavement adjustment and often bereaved mothers report the importance of hope for the grieving process.AimThis study aims to explore bereaved mothers’ experience of hope following perinatal death.MethodsIndividual interviews were conducted with 33 mothers having experienced the death of an infant in the perinatal period. Data from the interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.FindingsThe mothers’ experience of hope following perinatal loss is organized into three themes: Hope disrupted by perinatal loss; Transformed hope: a new pregnancy challenged by the sense of foreboding of another loss; and Ways to restore and foster hope in life.DiscussionAlthough hope has been a motivating force for mothers to reconnect with their life plan and move on after a loss, it is also negatively affected by the experience of perinatal bereavement, social support, and health professionals’ clinical practice.ConclusionBereaved mothers have reported a disruption in their experience of hope. While some experience a loss of hope or a sense of hopelessness, others experience a transformation and restoration of hope, which is reinvested in the grieving process. Mothers’ experience of hope highlights the need for the support of a healthcare professional and may contribute to enhanced clinical practice through the promotion of bereavement care, considering the aspects that instil, maintain, and interfere with hope.