母親の自己イメージと育児不安に関する研究

Abstract

Recently the problem of mother's childcare is indicated in terms of traditional wisdom, for example, ruin of motherhood or lack of maternity. But we need to understand mother's childcare and mentality not only from a conventional point of view, but from mother's own reality and consciousness of motherhood or maternity. The aim of the present study is to examine that the differences in images of maternity among the following 3 points of view; Past Self-image (before marriage), Present Self-image (as a mother) and General-image (stereotypical image), then to explore the relation between childcare anxiety and the gap of maternal images from the 3 points of view. As a result, the mothers who have General-image strictly perceive the gap between General-image and Present-image, and the mothers who feel the gap strongly among the maternal images recognize the anxiety in childcare. In consideration for these results, being mother is the process of the shift in identity, and it may well cause conflict and anxiety over adapting herself to change from the individual to the mother with social responsibility. Even though conventional maternity signifies as a stable model for reference, the flexible stance on understanding and accepting the difference among individuals may helpful to support mother's childcare.