Ramona Mercer Flashcards
Maternal Role Attainment— Becoming a Mother Theory
- has focused on the woman’s transition in
becoming a mother
Maternal Role Attainment— Becoming a Mother Theory
- Adolescents, older mothers, ill mothers, mothers
dealing with congenital defects, families
experiencing antepartal stress, parents at high
risk, mothers who had cesarean deliveries, and
fathers are included in her research
Maternal Role Attainment— Becoming a Mother Theory
- the mother becomes attached to her infant,
acquires competence in the caretaking tasks
involved in the role, and expresses pleasure and
gratification in the role.
Maternal role attainment
- internalized view of the self as a mother
- the mother experiences a sense of harmony,
confidence, and competence in how she
performs the role is the end point of maternal
role attainment
Maternal identity
- A woman’s perception of her performance
during labor and birth is her perception of the
birth experience (Mercer, 1990).
Perception of Birth Experience
- “an individual’s perception of how others view
oneself and self- acceptance of the perceptions”
Self-Esteem
- “The overall perception of self that includes selfsatisfaction, self-acceptance, self-esteem, and
congruence or discrepancy between self and
ideal self”
Self-Concept (Self-Regard)
- “__________ of childrearing attitudes increases
with increased development. Older mothers
have the potential to respond less rigidly to their
infants and to view each situation in respect to
the unique nuances”.
Flexibility
- are maternal attitudes or beliefs about child
rearing
Child-Rearing Attitudes
- is defined as “The mother’s and father’s
perception of their prior health, current health,
health outlook, resistance-susceptibility to
illness, health worry concern, sickness
orientation, and rejection of the sick role
Health Status
- “a trait in which there is specific proneness to
perceive stressful situations as dangerous or
threatening, and as a situation- specific state”
Anxiety
- “having a group of depressive symptoms and in
particular the affective component of the
depressed mood”
Depression
- Role strain is the conflict and difficulty felt by the
woman in fulfilling the maternal role obligation.
Role Strain–Role Conflict
- “the satisfaction, enjoyment, reward, or pleasure
that a woman experiences in interacting with her
infant, and in fulfilling the usual tasks inherent in
mothering.”
Gratification-Satisfaction
- It is viewed as a process in which an enduring
affectional and emotional commitment to an
individual is formed.
Attachment
- An easy versus a difficult temperament is related
to whether the infant sends hard-to-read cues,
leading to feelings of incompetence and
frustration in the mother
Infant Temperament
- relates to illness causing maternal-infant
separation, interfering with the attachment
process
Infant Health Status
- are infant behaviors that elicit a response from
the mother
Infant Cues
- “a dynamic system that includes subsystems—
individuals (mother, father, fetus/infant) and
dyads (mother-father, mother-fetus/ infant, and
father fetus/infant) within the overall family
system”
Family
- is the individual’s view of the
activities and relationships between the family
and its subsystems and broader social units
Family Functioning
- contributes to the process of maternal role
attainment in a way that cannot be duplicated by
any other person. The father’s interactions help
diffuse tension and facilitate maternal role
attainment
Father or Intimate Partner
- made up of positively and negatively perceived
life events and environmental variables. - Financial Problems
- Health Issues
- Marriage
- Birth of a Child
- Living Conditions
- Neighborhood Safety
Stress
- “the amount of help actually received,
satisfaction with that help, and the persons
(network) providing that help”
Social Support
Different types of support
- Emotional support
- Informational support
3.Physical support
4.Appraisal support
Different types of support:
: “Feeling loved, cared for, trusted, and understood”
Emotional support
Different types of support:
:“Helping the individual help herself by providing
information that is useful in dealing with the situation”
Informational support
Different types of support:
A direct kind of help
Physical support
Different types of support:
“A support that tells
the role taker how she is performing in
the role; it enables the individual to
evaluate herself in relationship to others’
performance in the role”
Appraisal support
- is the perception of the mate relationship that
includes intended and actual values, goals, and
agreements between the two
Mother-Father Relationship
Maternal Role Attainment: Mercer’s Original Model and
Theory (List)
- The microsystem
2.The mesosystem
3.The macrosystem
Maternal Role Attainment: Mercer’s Original Model and
Theory:
— immediate environment, most
influential on maternal role attainment. Emphasize the
importance of the father in role attainment.
The microsystem
Maternal Role Attainment: Mercer’s Original Model and
Theory:
— (exosystem) encompasses,
influences, and interacts with persons in the
microsystem. Ex: day care, school, work setting, places of
worship, and other entities within the immediate
community.
The mesosystem
Maternal Role Attainment: Mercer’s Original Model and
Theory:
— refers to the culture or transmitted
cultural consistencies. Ex: social, political, and cultural
influences on the other two systems. The health care
environment and the current health care system policies
The macrosystem
4 Stages of Role Acquisition (AFIP)
- Anticipatory
- Formal
- Informal
- Personal
these stages have been adapted from Thornton
and Nardi’s 1975 research
4 Stages of Role Acquisition (AFIP)
- begins during pregnancy, initial social and
psychological adjustments to pregnancy - mother learns the expectations of the role,
fantasizes about the role, relates to the fetus in
utero, and begins to role-play
Anticipatory
- begins with the birth of the infant and includes
learning and taking on the role of mother. - role behaviors are guided by formal, consensual
expectations of others in the mother’s social
system.
Formal
- begins as the mother develops unique ways of
dealing with the role not conveyed by the social
system. The woman makes her new role fit
within her existing lifestyle based on past
experiences and future goals.
Informal
- occurs as the woman internalizes her role. The
mother experiences a sense of harmony,
confidence, and competence in the way she
performs the role, and the maternal role is
achieved
Personal
Becoming a Mother: A Revised Model and Theory
- Mercer has continued to use Bronfenbrenner’s
concept of interacting nested ecological
environments. - She renamed them to reflect the living
environments: family and friends, community,
and society at large
The newest model
- shows interacting environments that affect the
process of becoming a mother
