Parental identity formation in mothers is linked to borderline and depressive symptoms: A person-centered analyses

Abstract

The formation of a stable parental identity is an important developmental task which parents face. Difficulties in this process can significantly decrease the quality of life and hinder the fulfillment of the parental role. The present study analyzed whether parental identity status, based on the three identity processes from the Meeus-Crocetti model, is related to the severity of borderline and depressive symptoms. Four hundred and fifty-nine mothers aged 18–40 (M = 32.41, SD = 5.09) participated in the cross-sectional study. The results of the cluster analysis revealed the existence of five different parental identity statuses: Achievement, Foreclosure, Searching moratorium, Diffussion, and Moratorium. Significant differences were also observed between parents with different statuses in terms of borderline and depressive symptoms. The study confirmed predictions that mental health difficulties among parents co-occur with low identification with parenthood.

Processes and Statuses of Parental Identity at Different Stages of Parenthood

“…We observed that commitment was not related to either the parenthood stage or the gender of the parent. Since previous studies have shown that commitment in the parenting domain is significantly related to personality traits and mental health (Fadjukoff et al, 2016;Schrooyen et al, 2021;Piotrowski, 2021Piotrowski, , 2023, it can be assumed that it is more strongly related to the psychological characteristics of the parent than to the contextual factors we focused on in the present study. Although previous studies have confirmed that in-depth exploration and reconsideration are also related to the psychological characteristics of the parent (Meca et al, 2020;Piotrowski, 2020), the present results suggest that parenthood duration and gender may also be significant for both of these exploratory processes.…”

A Network Analysis Bridging the Gap Between the Big Five Personality Traits and Burnout Among Medical Staff

“…In previous studies, the correlation between the Big Five personality traits and burnout has often been examined by categorizing burnout as a unitary concept or its three dimensions [29][30][31]. However, this kind of approach may have an in uence on overlooking the heterogeneity of burnout and mask the varying correlations between different components and personality factors, leading to inconsistent results.…”