Keeping pace: Mother versus athlete identity among elite long distance runners

Darroch, Francine; Hillsburg, Heather

doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2017.03.005

Cited by 44 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…A reciprocal influence of the psychosocial and athletic levels was identified with the athletic career impacting mother, as well as her child and a partner. Participants reported feeling empowered, more energized, flexible, and organized as a mother due to their athletic engagement, and experiencing sport as a hiatus from their maternal role, congruent with findings by Darroch and Hillsburg (2017). In comparison to other non-athletic mothers, they perceived themselves as having better discipline, and encouraging more independence, adaptability, and positive health behaviour within their child.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…Their motivation for sport did not decrease, rather it gained an additional aspect. As found in previous research (Darroch and Hillsburg 2017;Leberman and Palmer 2009;, motherhood gave female athletes a different perspective on life, and made the awareness of their athletic goals and important things in life even stronger.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

“…Personal support networks of mothers in our study appeared as significantly influential on their athletic endeavours, which clearly represents a strong reciprocal influence of both the athletic and psychosocial level in female athletes' development. It also confirms that mother-athletes seem to strongly depend on the support of close family members when juggling their dual responsibilities of being a mother and an elite athlete (Darroch and Hillsburg 2017;Palmer and Leberman 2009). Especially the sufficient support of a partner, most likely also an elite athlete himself, allowed female athletes to balance their sport and motherhood, and facilitated engagement in both roles equally and simultaneously (McGannon et al 2015).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

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Becoming a mother-athlete: female athletes’ transition to motherhood in Slovenia

2020

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Perceptions of incompatibility of sport and motherhood still exist within both sport and family Slovene cultures. For many female athletes starting a family means an end of their athletic careers. However, some women decide to pursue their athletic life after they become mothers. While recent media interest in mother-athletes has increased significantly, scientific research focusing on this topic is still scarce. The purpose of this study was to explore the transition of Slovene female athletes into motherhood and their experiences of combining motherhood with competitive sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight female elite athletes, who became mothers during their elite level competitive career. The results of the study revealed that mother-athletes perceived this transition as a long-term process in which motherhood and elite sport had a reciprocal effect on each other. Three transition phases characterized by changes in the participants' holistic development were identified: (1) pre-pregnancy and pregnancy, (2) returning to competitive sport, and (3) living the life of a mother-athlete.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

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Becoming a mother-athlete: female athletes’ transition to motherhood in Slovenia

2020

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“…That is, she explained that her leisure time was reserved only for those early and late hours when it would not interfere with her child's needs. She could thus avoid potential feelings of guilt and selfishness, which have been noted as common concerns for mothers pursuing sports activities in Western contexts (e.g., Darroch & Hillsburg, 2017). In her words, "I deal with him first.…”

Section: Managing Family Responsibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“You Challenge Yourself and You’re not Afraid of Anything!” Women’s Narratives of Running in Shanghai

Ronkainen

Shuman

2018

Sociology of Sport Journal

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Distance running is a rapidly growing leisure practice among urban Chinese adults. This study explores female runners’ experiences in Shanghai through life story interviews with 14 female runners. We analyzed their stories for cultural narrative resources and gendered life scripts used in the construction of running identities and practices. Although all interviewees constructed running within narratives of health, ideal body and achievement, women also storied running as a liberating and autonomy-boosting activity. Yet, despite their privileged status as educated urban citizens, they had to negotiate essentialist gender discourses and initially lacked self-confidence in sports. They constructed their achievements as exceptional, rather than as something that all Chinese women could do.

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“…A substantial body of qualitative research exploring mother's LTPA takes a social constructionist perspective (Hamilton & White, 2012; Lewis & Ridge, 2005; Miller & Brown, 2005), whereby motherhood is “viewed as the product of individual, social and cultural discourses which interact to create particular meanings concerning mother identity” (McGannon et al, 2018: 41). These studies focus on how the “good mother” societal ideal can subordinate mothers’ PA (Batey & Owton, 2014; Darroch & Hillsburg, 2017; McGannon et al, 2017) and how mothers are most likely to participate in PA when it is constructed as an opportunity for family time (Lewis & Ridge, 2005), or as necessary to be a “good” or “super mother” (Darroch & Hillsburg, 2017; Lewis & Ridge, 2005; Lloyd et al, 2016; McGannon & Schinke, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“We’re just stuck in a daily routine”: Implications of the temporal dimensions, demands and dispositions of mothering for leisure time physical activity

Spotswood

Nobles

Armstrong

2021

Sociology Health & Illness

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The reduced physical activity of women when they become mothers is a public health priority. Existing studies show that mothers have little time for leisure, or time that is fragmented and requiring negotiation with others. However, the temporal features of mothering are undertheorised and qualitative studies tend to focus on how mothers can skilfully construct physically active identities and balance societal expectations about being a “good mother”. In line with other research that focuses on the configuration of everyday practices that condition the “possibilities” for health‐related practices like physical activity, we shift our focus away from the resisting capacities of mothers to the temporal features of mothering practices. We interrogate the lived experiences of 15 mothers of preschool children in deprived urban areas and illuminate the inherent temporal dimensions, demands and dispositions of mothering practices that condition the possibility of leisure time physical activity being undertaken. Together, these temporal features mean mothering practices can readily work against leisure time physical activity. The focus on the mothering practices rather than mothers brings a novel perspective for developing public health policy designed to support mothers into regular leisure time physical activity.

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Keeping pace: Mother versus athlete identity among elite long distance runners

Cited by 44 publications

References 24 publications

Becoming a mother-athlete: female athletes’ transition to motherhood in Slovenia

Becoming a mother-athlete: female athletes’ transition to motherhood in Slovenia

“You Challenge Yourself and You’re not Afraid of Anything!” Women’s Narratives of Running in Shanghai

“We’re just stuck in a daily routine”: Implications of the temporal dimensions, demands and dispositions of mothering for leisure time physical activity

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