Women’s constructions of their relationships with their mothers in the context of the development and experience of their own depression.
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: International literature suggests that women are particularly affected by depression, with one quarter of adult females reporting lifetime prevalence of the disorder.Similarly in the South African context, epidemiological findings indicate that low-income, South African mothers (and women in general) are particularly prone to depression.Historically the mother-child relationship has been valorised, essentialised and seen as pivotal to early childhood development, whilst a problematic maternal relationship has been constructed as the cause of children's emotional distress.This study aimed to provide an in depth account of women's constructions of their experience of depression and their relationships with their mothers.This feminist social constructionist study took place in a low-income, peri-urban community in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten low-income women who had been diagnosed with depression.Data were analysed using case studies and Charmaz' social constructionist grounded theory.A number of important findings emerged.Firstly, women with depression felt controlled by their mothers and self-silenced important feelings in their relationships with them in this community.As a result of their silencing, they felt angry, sad and depressed.Furthermore, the women expressed the determination not to repeat their relationship with their mothers in their relationships with their own children.Implicit to women's constructions of their relationships with their mothers, is the idealised concept of the "good mother" and the "good woman", which informed their constructions of their relationships with their mothers.Recommendations emphasise the need to broaden conceptualisations of the "good mother" and the "good motherdaughter relationship" relative to the multilayered contexts in which they arise, and to provide interventions aimed at allowing low-income women with depression a space in which to voice their feelings authentically without the threat of social sanction.
Author: Simona Flavio
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2265320347