No description available.

Styles of mothering and the emphasis on the mother-infant relationship vary enormously both across and within cultures. Class, ethnicity, birth order and sex are some of the factors which have been shown to affect mother-infant relations, and thus the infant's development. The importance of a stimulating physical environment for the infant's cognitive-intellectual development is now accepted, but the question of which aspects of development are related to different aspects of the environment, and at which ages, are less investigated. Individual differences also have to be considered here. This longitudinal study was planned to look at the mother-infant relationship and its subsequent effect on infant development in a diversity of child-rearing situations. Both ethnic origin and social class differed widely, reflecting the main immigrant groups of the area of study and the indigenous population. 19 mother-infant pairs were visited in their homes at 3-monthly intervals until 18 months. Assessment was by means of maternal interview, observation of family interaction, and developmental testing of infants. No significant differences relating to social class or ethnic group, sex of infant or birth order emerged, either in cognitive, motor or social development. Differences in styles of mothering were observed, and cross-lagged panel analysis indicated the positive influence of two maternal behaviours: Emotional and Verbal Responsivity, and Maternal Involvement, on subsequent mental development. Direction of effect for both behaviours was from mother to child, so that it was the more emotionally responsive and involved mothers who were having the more positive effect on their infant's level of mental functioning. In the second year a mutually reinforcing "steady state" relationship appeared to have been established between these two maternal behaviours and infant's mental test scores, although the impact of the alerter infants in eliciting maternal involvement was now greater than in the first year.

Background: In 2006, a review of the research and literature in relation to the mental health needs of children in care, led to the rationale for providing training to foster carers and the network of professionals surrounding the child, offered as an integral part of the service provided by a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service for Looked After Children (CAMHS/LAC) in the South of England. Individuals who are prepared to become foster carers need solid mental health training to successfully parent children who have experienced severe trauma and present with a range of emotional and behavioural difficulties (Dorsey et al 2008). Foster carers expressed the need for more information and support to improve their understanding of mental health issues when caring for their looked after child. In order to meet this need and given the dearth of evaluation within the literature regarding foster carers’ experience of attending mental health training, this research study provides an evaluation of the process and outcome of attending training. Understanding the experience of the training from a foster carer’s perspective was paramount in order to target support to carers to both prevent placement breakdown, deterioration in childrens’ health and emotional wellbeing and for service development. The overall objectives of this research study were to explore the experience of professional foster carers before, during and after receiving training; to evaluate the knowledge gained from the training and explore their perception of how this affected their practice and identify areas of strengths and weaknesses of the training. Methodology: An in-depth illuminative evaluation for two cohorts of foster carers used a mixed methods approach (quantitative and qualitative) to explore process and outcomes; with the main emphasis upon the comprehensive collection of qualitative data. Quantitative data were collected in the form of two validated questionnaires, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman, 1999) and the Family Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) (Donenberg & Baker, 1993), a knowledge questionnaire which was piloted and devised by the researcher and a satisfaction questionnaire devised by the local City Council. Qualitative data took the form of a series of semi structured interviews pre training, immediately post training and twelve weeks follow up training. A diary interview method was also used to complement the data gathered within the follow up interviews (Zimmerman & Weider, 1977). Results: Results from the quantitative questionnaires suggest that foster carers provide care for foster children in the South of England with a high level of need in relation to their mental health. Overall the SDQ results did not reach statistical significance but suggest a trend towards reduced perceived emotional and behavioural difficulties presented by children in their care. The FIQ identified that both foster children and birth children have a high impact on several areas of family functioning which continued over the twelve week period of the study. Increased knowledge was measured and showed statistically significant differences from baseline, which were retained over time and led to the reported positive change in foster carers’ levels of confidence, ability to advocate for their child in a school setting and a sense of empowerment for foster carers. An interpretive approach to analyzing data was used through the aid of thematic content analysis using the Framework Approach. Findings from the qualitative data revealed ten themes and suggested that foster carers experience training as a journey of awareness in relation to understanding the mental health needs of the children in their care. Conclusion: Illuminative evaluation has provided description and interpretation to unravel the experience of group training, whereby foster carers negotiate, choose and create their own learning in relation to individual needs. There appears to be a move away from foster carers being passive recipients of knowledge towards the proactive creation and sharing of knowledge within which carers from all levels of experience contribute. Recommendations include a review of the existing package of training, involving the aid of foster carers input, to co-develop appropriate training programmes.

Research into parents’ experiences of becoming parents is widespread. However research regarding therapy for parents, and how that may impact on the meanings parents give to parenthood is rare. In response to this lack of knowledge, this study explores parents’ experiences of counselling at SureStart children’s centres and how that experience affects their perceptions of themselves as parents, and their on-going experience of parenthood. The study was conducted using phenomenological methodology. Data was collected via four semi-structured interviews. Participants were parents who had received counselling at a local children’s centre. They had between two and four children each, aged between eight months and four years. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Three superordinate themes are evidenced – i. Who am I?, ii. Feeling out of Control and iii. Parenthood and Counselling. Parents’ sense of a parental identity and sense of agency changed when they became parents and over time, and therapy was used to explore these differences in experience. Despite accessing therapy, participants did not identify with people whom they thought of as needing mental health services. It is suggested that children’s centre counselling services could become a “gateway” to other parenting support as the parent learns to experience a therapeutic relationship, gains a better sense of agency, and trusts that the professionals are not judging them. The findings are examined in the light of the extant literature which suggests, for example, that parents may experience dissonance between their concept of “parent” and their concept of “client.” They may also find parenthood harder if their thinking is not “principle led”. The research findings indicate that there is still much to learn about this participant group, and suggestions are made for further research in this area.

New self-help interventions have been called for to promote psychological well-being amongst mothers in the first year post-partum, with self-compassion being identified as a promising intervention target. The present study developed and evaluated a low-intensity, online, compassion-based intervention for this population. The Kindness for Mums Online (KFMO) programme was based on Hartley-Jones (2016), and was developed in consultation with six mothers. Mothers of infants under one year (N = 206) participated in a randomised controlled trial, comparing KFMO with a waitlist control. The KFMO group showed significantly greater increases in self-compassion and in psychological well-being compared to controls, with small to medium effect sizes. Improvement in self-compassion statistically mediated the improvement in well-being observed immediately post-intervention. Treatment gains in self-compassion, but not well-being, were maintained at 6-week follow-up. The findings suggest that self-compassion can be increased in post-natal women via an accessible, low-intensity, web-based self-help programme. Study limitations include high attrition rates and poor generalisability to more diverse samples.

The corpus of research contained within this thesis concerns the presence and prediction of mothers’ and fathers’ anger over the transition to parenthood, and their associations with anger manifested in their offspring as infants and toddlers. These topics were addressed in the context of a prospective longitudinal study of first-time parents and their infants in Wales, the Cardiff Child Development Study (CCDS). Attention was first paid to mothers’ experience of anger during their pregnancies and the postnatal period, detailing predictors of anger and the modest increase in anger across time (Chapter 3). Secondly, the significance of anger in the context of antenatal and postnatal depression was established (Chapter 4). Mothers and mothers-to-be who had experienced a depressive episode described greater frequencies of anger than mothers who were well, with levels of anger in pregnancy also predicting the onset of postpartum depression. Thirdly, the investigation into anger was extended to include fathers and the parental relationship, revealing that women reported more anger than men at both time points. Again, a modest increase in anger expressed within the relationship across the transition to parenthood was found, and a number of variables of interest were established in the prediction postpartum interparental anger (Chapter 5). In the final empirical chapter, the relevance of parents’ anger before entering parenthood and their expression of anger in the home were considered as predictors of anger in their offspring as infants and toddlers. By toddlerhood, clear associations between the generations were noted, with interparental anger established as the most salient predictor of toddler anger in this sample (Chapter 6). Together, these findings suggest anger is a salient emotion across the transition to parenthood, both for parents and their offspring.

Background: Traditionally parental learning disability has been understood through an individual perspective. As a result, much of the focus of clinical practice and research has been on factors pertinent to the individual, such as, parental competence. Given that the majority of parents with learning disabilities receive support in parenting, research has started to emerge exploring parents’ views on how support is delivered. This study aims to explore, from the parents’ point of view, what it is like to be a parent with learning disabilities receiving formal support, how parents make sense of the relationship with a professional and the impact of that relationship. Method: Using semi-structured interviews 10 parents with learning disabilities were interviewed about their experiences. The data were collected and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: IPA. Results: Four superordinate themes emerged from the data with accompanying subordinate themes: “Stepping up”: Expectations; Partnership and perceived experiences of support; “Getting through it”: Coping, and “Who is the parent here?”: Identity. Conclusions: The findings revealed the need to think about the interpersonal contexts of parenting, in particular the context of acceptance, and the impact of receiving formal support on shaping the identity of parents with learning disabilities. Parents’ perceived experience of support was influenced by their experience of working in partnership with the professional. Implications and recommendations for future research, clinical practice and service delivery are made.

Parenthood is a major life-goal that the majority of the population ultimately aims to achieve. Unfortunately, some individuals are not able to achieve parenthood when they desire to. This can happen for reasons related with the postponement of parenthood beyond the optimal biological period to achieve it and/or infertility. In these situations the parenthood goal becomes blocked. The studies presented in this thesis aimed to investigate how people self-regulate when experiencing such a blocked parenthood goal. More specifically, theories of developmental regulation claim that when facing a blocked goal individuals are expected (1) to experience poor wellbeing and (2) to disengage from the goal and reengage in alternative goals; (3) the use of goal disengagement and reengagement strategies is then expected to result in better wellbeing. This thesis directly tests these predictions. Dyadic approaches of regulation were also investigated in an exploratory way. Overall, results provided weak support for the predictions made by developmental regulation theories. People facing a blocked parenthood goal did not want to disengage from it and only reengaged in alternative life-goals if doing so did not interfere with the pursuit of parenthood. Additionally, in general, disengagement from parenthood did not seem to have benefits for wellbeing. However, in line with predictions, the experience of a blocked parenthood goal was associated with poor wellbeing and reengaging in alternative goals had wellbeing benefits. At the dyadic level, the decision to continue treatment as long as opportunities were not exhausted was predetermined and couples neither communicated about it, nor updated this decision after experiencing a treatment failure. These results suggest that health professionals should ensure that the true chances of achieving pregnancy are clearly communicated to patients as they often intend to invest in the parenthood goal until the opportunities are absolutely exhausted. Based on the work presented here, more studies aimed at testing developmental regulation theories in the context of parenthood goal should opt to use longitudinal designs and integrate dyadic processes of regulation.

This thesis describes the way 50 women in London experienced motherhood. It is based on in-depth interviews with 25 working-class and 25 middle-class women, living with their husbands, with 2, 3 or 4 children, at least one of whom was under 5. First, the views on motherhood of biological perspectives (psychoanalysis and ethology) and social perspectives (sociology and social anthropology) are critically reviewed and the framework and methods for the empirical study are spelled out. Central to this framework is the distinction between two dimensions of experience: immmediate response (enjoyment or irritation) to caring for children, and, sense of meaning and purpose which may or may not be experienced in such care. The main body of the thesis is a description of the women's experience in terms of these two dimensions. Successive chapters outline the irritation which the women expressed with the demanding nature of preschool children; with the organization and setting of child care; and with the sense of loss of individuality felt in motherhood. A following chapter describes the sense of meaning and purpose which the women conveyed as arising from feeling needed and wanted by their children and from investing hopes, dreams and ambitions in them. From these accounts, a four-fold typology of experiences of motherhood is developed. The influence of a husband's practical help and emotional support on a woman's experience is also examined. Throughout, social class differences are a particular focus of attention. A third dimension of experience, satisfaction with maternity, is then distinguished and the limitations of conventional measures of satisfaction are drawn out by a comparison of the interviewer and self-reported assessments. Finally, an attempt is made to place the women's experience in a cross-cultural perspective which highlights the difficult and demanding circumstances in which they cared for their children.

Qualitative research on education and aspirations has been produced with the sole focus on the reproduction of class inequalities within a White middle class structure. There has only been a handful of studies of analytic engagement with Black professional middle class parents' expectations and aspirations regarding their children's futures in Britain. This gap creates an opportunity for new research to gain deeper insight into what decisions and choices are made by Black professional middle class parents and bring to light important knowledge of professional middle class educational attainment. The research presented here explored how Black professional middle class parents’ construct strategic approaches towards creating better futures for their children within a predominantly White middle class structure. Drawing on primary data taken from interviews with 25 Black African and Black Caribbean middle class parents’ (half from African or Caribbean heritage) , this thesis analyses parents’ strategic decision making and navigation in an unequal playing field of education. Findings indicate adaptations of Bourdieu’s social, cultural and economic capitals to prepare and engage their children along certain pathways in order to create aspirational opportunities. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) it is argued that while class is very influential in explaining educational attainment, understanding Black professional middle class parents’ aspirations for their children requires a deeper understanding of race. Evidence from in-depth narratives provided an insight into parents' own biographies that were either originally working or middle class backgrounds in shaping their orientations to, and manner of engagement with, their children's futures. Drawing from the data middle class parents were beginning to be geographically mobile, moving out of inner London areas in search of a better quality of life for their children and a preferred school choice – with a higher quality of education found around the surrounding areas of London and the South East suburbs. Parents’ subjective biographies illustrated diverse parenting practices and values such as those sets of parents using their Christian faith to help build a solid foundation for moral values, self-confidence and respectability. The research offers new insights into the choices made and strategic approaches used to nurture high aspirations for Black professional middle class children’s futures.