This thesis story is about the discursively lived and re-membered experiences of a small number of local, non-indigenous women most of whom are based in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. Each of these women grew up with a mother diagnosed 'mad' within the medical model. My subjective experiences are the beginning place of this re-search. Throughout my life with her, my mother was given a variety of diagnoses within the medical model. I wanted to know how other women lived the complexities of this particular mother-daughter relationship. The thesis foregrounds know-ledges and voices that are usually silenced. There is a growing body of work about women and 'madness', about the mothers' experiences, however there is little written that places the daughters in the centre of the text. Using critical social science paradigms and the tools of post-modernism and feminisms, the daughters' stories inter-rupt and dis-rupt the dominant discourses about famil(y)ies, mothering and mental illness. By foregrounding these know-ledges, I hope that some new ways of thinking about - of seeing - these lived discursive experiences will emerge. These stories also have much to say about life's journey. The thesis is about knowing the ledges we traveled along - or didn't. It is also about which know-ledges are heard and which are silenced, who speaks for what purpose - and in this, who and what are necessarily being shadowed. It is about the inter-ruptions and dis-ruptions in know-ledges. At the beginning of each chapter, I have highlighted some prominent inter-ruptions to the discourses within that chapter. I also signpost and begin a tentative discussion of the contribution of 'mad' mothers to post-modernism and feminisms. A contribution, which it seems to me, is not fully ac-know-ledged. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The increasing elderly population is creating a greater need for care providers. Research indicates that while caregiving can be rewarding, it can also generate stress which, in turn, impacts individual well-being. Social support, however, may foster the well-being of persons who are experiencing stressful events. The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of perceived social support from close family (siblings, spouse, and children) and background characteristics to well-being for a sample of women caring for mothers who were not cognitively impaired. The sample for this study (N=65) was drawn from a larger five year western Oregon study of women caregivers (Walker, 1986), and included only those women who: participated during the third year of the larger study; were married; and had at least one child and one sibling. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews. Pearson correlations and multiple regressions were used to assess the contribution of family support and background characteristics to well-being. Well-being, as measured by the CES-D scale, was the dependent variable in all regressions. The independent variables included the caregiver's self-reported health, and her perceptions of support (measured by supportiveness, positivity of contact, and conflict) from siblings, spouse, and children. Overall, results from this study indicated that women caregivers' perceptions of relationships with close family did impact their well-being. While measures designed to tap supportiveness and positivity of contact were not significantly related to well-being, conflict was. Specifically, conflict with a spouse was associated with lower well-being. Second to conflict with a spouse, respondent's health was the strongest predictor of wellbeing: poor health was significantly associated with lower well-being. In general, recommendations and implications focused on the need for: (a) repeating this type of research among other caregiver populations; (b) developing multidimensional measures of family support; (c) services that provide individuals with positive ways to deal with lifetensions that foster interpersonal conflict; and (d) services that target caregivers who are in poor health. / Graduation date: 1992

Thesis (B.A.)--Bi-College (Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges) Comparative Literature Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Recreation Management and Youth Leadership, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

This interpretive descriptive study explored the meaning and lived experience of breast cancer for 5 mothers and their 5 adolescent daughters, and for these mother-daughter relationships. Mothers had been diagnosed with breast cancer between 2 and 6 years ago, and their daughters were between 11 and 13 years old at the time of the diagnosis. A series of six in-depth interviews with mothers and daughters, conducted both jointly and separately, afforded a view of aspects of experience that were shared and privately held. Interview data were supplemented with participants' drawings of their experience, and the researcher's observations. The interpretive descriptive framework employed was augmented with the lens of portraiture in the conduct of study, data analysis, and composition of the product of inquiry. Portraiture utilizes five essential features: voice, relationship, context, emergent themes, and aesthetic whole. Individual and relational experience and meaning were described in four themes: (a) Inhabiting Another Landscape, (b) Intending and Acting, (c) Acquiring Wisdom, and (d) Enduring Mother-Daughter Relationships. The theme of Inhabiting Another Landscape described a trajectory of experience and meaning that began with diagnosis, persisted through prolonged effects of treatment, and continued in the present and into imagined futures. Mothers and daughters had privately held concerns about the mothers' breast cancer and the possibility that breast cancer might one day visit daughters as well. The most prominent reminder of vulnerability was recurrence among friends in the social networks of breast cancer. The theme of Intending and Acting described the mutual caring and protectiveness of these mothers and daughters. Mothers and daughters described actions and strategies to minimize the threat of breast cancer for themselves and for the other person. Actions included attempts by both persons to create and maintain a sense of normalcy. Conversations between mothers and daughters on the experience of breast cancer were limited, in particular around prognosis and the possibility of death. The theme of Acquiring Wisdom described personal growth and change after the diagnosis of breast cancer. For both persons, realizations of mortality brought a new perspective on what was important in life. Mothers passed on the wisdom gained from their experience either directly in what was said to daughters or indirectly in the attitudes and behaviours they modelled. The theme of Enduring Mother-Daughter Relationships described the quality of mother-daughter relationships and the import of breast cancer for these relationships. Mothers and daughters described their relationships as close. Daughters described their relationships as closer than most, in part because of their experience with breast cancer. Parenting and being parented was in some cases complicated by breast cancer. Friction between mothers and daughters was described as par for the course during the teen years, but one source of friction was the unexpected and prolonged effects of treatment. The findings in this study indicate the value in attending to the voices of teenage daughters, which remain largely absent in the literature. Mothers and daughters have needs for information and support that are not being met. The emotional landscape of breast cancer, which entails prolonged uncertainty for both mothers and daughters, deserves further study. Personal growth described by both mothers and daughters provides an alternative view of the largely problem-focused perspective in the literature of the meaning and experience of breast cancer.

This study investigated firstborns' adjustment and responsiveness to a new sibling and parents' responsiveness to their firstborn before and after the second child's birth. Parental responsiveness was also examined in the context of predicting firstborns' adjustment and responsiveness to the sibling. Fifty families with firstborn daughters (26-55 mo) were visited at home 6-10 weeks before and 5-6 weeks after the sibling's birth. After the sibling's birth, young firstborns were more distressed than old firstborns; however, prenatal distress was the best predictor of postnatal distress. Old and young firstborns showed different patterns of responsiveness to brothers and sisters. In terms of parental responsiveness, firstborns perceived mothers as more responsive after the birth than before, while their perceptions of fathers remained unchanged. Mothers gave less support after the birth, particularly to old firstborns. Although fathers' support remained unchanged postnatally, fathers gave the least support to old firstborns with brothers. Time spent by mothers with firstborns decreased from before to after the birth, while fathers' time increased. Continuity was found for parental support but not for parental involvement, especially by fathers. Parental support was associated with low postnatal distress while parental caregiving was related to high postnatal distress. Prenatal maternal responsiveness and postnatal paternal responsiveness predicted postnatal distress. Firstborns' perceptions of parental responsiveness were generally associated with firstborns' responsiveness to the sibling. The results were discussed in terms of family-systems theory and stress-coping theory.

Adult attitudes toward the Barbie dolls are ambivalent, with many saying they encourage a variety of undesirable tendencies. This paper looks at the dramatic play that actually occurs with the dolls, much of it involving the normal behavior that one would expect in children who are becoming enculturated through imitation of the adult behavior they see around them. But also common is play that most adults would think of as unconventional or deviant. To what extent are parents, particularly mothers, aware of this? How does this play relate to enculturation? Does it serve other functions? And what implications does it have for the age at which children should be given Barbies and the need for adult supervision or instruction of the children? This thesis describes the types of play engaged in and considers possible answers to the questions raised above. / Department of Anthropology

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: B, page: 3485. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-132).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1995. / Includes tables. Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Isobel Contento. Dissertation Committee: Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 246-260).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-81).