An Exploration of Jamaican Mothers' Perceptions of Closeness and Intimacy in the Mother-Child Relationship during Middle Childhood.

Taniesha Burke,Sonja Perren,Leon Kuczynski

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02148

Abstract

Research on Jamaican mother–child relationships has had a limited focus on authoritarian parenting styles and selected discipline practices such as corporal punishment. This study examined Jamaican mothers’ experiences of closeness and connectedness with their children to provide a holistic perspective on Jamaican-parent–child relationships. Thirty mothers (17 middle class and 13 lower class) living in Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica, participated in a 1-h to 1.5-h semi-structured, open-ended interview regarding their 8- to 12-year-old children. Thematic analyses indicated that mothers experienced closeness through intimate interactions (e.g., shared projects, shared physical affection, mutuality, and child self-disclosure) and parent–child nurturance. Both mothers and children were active in creating contexts for closeness. Mothers also reported experiences that temporarily damaged their connection with their children. The findings suggest that the construct of parent–child intimacy may be useful in teasing out the psychological meanings and interpersonal processes of parent–child relatedness in cultural research.

Highlights

Parents in all cultures love their children and have a strong psychological connection to them
Supporting quotes for each theme are presented in the original Jamaican dialect to maintain the authenticity of responses
A table is provided to indicate the percentage and frequency of themes expressed by middle class (MC) and lower class (LC) mothers

Summary

Introduction

Parents in all cultures love their children and have a strong psychological connection to them The way this connection is expressed and communicated in the parent–child relationship depends on the relationship’s history and its cultural context (Trommsdorff and Kornadt, 2003). Interactions between parents and children occur in a distinctive long-term relationship context characterized by an immense history of interactions, a projected future, and close interdependence of their actions and emotions (Kuczynski and De Mol, 2015). These features of the relationship affect the dynamics of influence, connection, and vulnerability that occur between parents and children (Kuczynski, 2003). Cross-cultural studies suggest that parent–child relationships have

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