Published : 2023-11-28 — Updated on 2023-11-28

Transition to Motherhood Among Women from Perspective of Their Life Course:

Intergenerational Analysis

Abstract

The article describes various women’s perceptions of their transition to motherhood at different stages of their female adulthood. The research problem was whether and to what extent the meaning of transition to motherhood changes for women from different birth cohorts. Our sample included mothers from three generational cohorts: 50 women in early adulthood (M = 27.5), 50 women in middle adulthood (M = 47.66), and 52 women in late adulthood (M = 69.35). The results were analysed using qualitative data analysis methods, including frequency analysis and qualitative narrative analysis. Based on the analyses, the category of transition to motherhood was found to be a standard feature for all the women studied. In both older generations, some women recalled the birth of their first child as coping with change. Indicators of criticality were extracted from their narratives: potential bivalence, the unpredictability of consequences and the longevity of life changes. The results showed that the generation of women in late adulthood exhibited significantly fewer difficulties related to their motherhood. The dominant semantic of the narratives studied is motherhood understood as taking responsibility for another person.

Keywords:

transition to motherhood, biographical research, critical life event, old age, intergenerational research


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Kuryś-Szyncel, K., & Błachnio, A. (2023). Transition to Motherhood Among Women from Perspective of Their Life Course: : Intergenerational Analysis. Biografistyka Pedagogiczna, 8(1), 591–616. https://doi.org/10.36578/BP.2023.08.08

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"Biografistyka Pedagogiczna" received funding for the years 2022-2024 from the funds of the Minister of Education and Science under the programme „Rozwój Czasopism Naukowych”.

Project duration: 2023-2024.

The amount of co-financing is 65 992,00 PLN

Contract number: RCN/SP/0434/2021/1