The balance of employment and motherhood: Longitudinal study of mothers' feelings about separation from their first-born infants.

Abstract

This longitudinal study was an investigation of how older, well-educated mothers of infants come to terms with establishing a balance between maternal and career roles. The focus was on how their preference to be employed or to remain home with their infants affected the development of their anxiety about separation from their infants over the first 1 V-h months of motherhood. On measures of anxiety about separation, career salience, and maternal role investment, 26 mothers who preferred employment were compared with 36 mothers who preferred to stay at home. Measures were taken at 2 days, 7 weeks, 8 months, and 1 Vh months postpartum. Employment-preference mothers' anxiety about separation declined earlier and to a greater extent. Discussion centers on the importance of employment preference as opposed to actual employment status for understanding how women balance career and motherhood.

Development and Testing of a Scale to Measure Separation Anxiety of Parents of Adolescents

“…Internal consistency reliability of the PSAS in this sample was similar to earlier studies and indicated that the scale is appropriate for parents of adolescents with type 1 diabetes. The results were consistent with previous research establishing a relationship of SES to maternal separation anxiety in relation to infants but extended these findings to the adolescent stage (DeMeis et al, 1986;Fein et al, 1993;McBride & Belsky, 1988). Lower socioeconomic status may indicate a context of risks and dangers that activates mothers' anxiety about separation.…”

“…Based on this perspective, separation anxiety has been found to vary with maternal, infant, and situational characteristics (Hock et al, 1989;, notably gender of the infant (DeMeis et al, 1986;McBride & Belsky, 1988;Pitzer & Hock, 1992), maternal employment, and socioeconomic status (DeMeis et al, 1986;Fein, Gariboldi, & Boni, 1993;McBride & Belsky, 1988). In particular, separation anxiety of employed mothers of infant sons was greater than that of employed mothers of infant daughters (Pitzer & Hock, 1992).…”

“…Although separation anxiety is conceptualized as an outgrowth of a dyadic relationship (Schaffer, 1977), separation anxiety has been described in the literature predominantly as an experience of discomfort in infants and young children. Significant attention has also been given to the examination of separation discomfort experienced by the mother in relation to her infant (DeMeis, Hock, & McBride, 1986;Hock, DeMeis, & McBride, 1988;Hock et al, 1989;Lutz & Hock, 1995) and young children (Hock, Shirtzinger, & Lutz, 1992), but little is known about separation anxiety in later developmental stages and in fathers. More recently, separation anxiety in parents of adolescents has been examined (Hock, Eberly, Bartle-Haring, Ellwanger, & Widaman, 2001).…”

The relationship of maternal separation anxiety and differentiation of self to children's separation anxiety and adjustment to kindergarten: A study in Druze families

“…The abundant research on mothers' anxiety regarding separation from their children supports the belief that maternal anxiety is an important psychological construct and is meaningfully related to both maternal behaviors towards the child and other aspects of maternal personality (e.g., DeMeis, Hock, & McBride, 1986;Hock, Hart, Kang, & Lutz, 2004;Hock, McBride, & Gnezda, 1989;Hock & Schirtzinger, 1992;Lutz & Hock, 1995;McBride & Belsky, 1988). Yet, the familial antecedents of maternal anxiety have not been fully explicated, nor has their impact on children's separation anxiety and their adjustment to kindergarten.…”

Separation anxiety in families with emerging adults.

“…Maternal separation anxiety has been viewed as a rather stable personality disposition that is elicited in a mother's separation from her child (Hock et al, 1989). Several studies have provided evidence that separation anxiety is a traitlike aspect of the maternal personality instead of a type of state anxiety, with maternal separation anxiety for instance being found to demonstrate relatively stable interindividual differences across time and across situations (DeMeis, Hock, & McBride, 1986;Hock et al 1989). Maternal separation anxiety has also been shown to be associated with negative self-representations , low self-esteem (McBride & Belsky, 1988), and depressive symptomatology Hock, Schirtzinger, & Lutz, 1992).…”