Maternal Expectations Research Articles

Cultural values, parenting and child adjustment in Thailand.

The purpose of this study was to understand the associations of Thai parents' cultural values (i.e., individualism, collectivism and conformity) with parenting behaviour (i.e., warmth, autonomy granting, rules/limit-setting, knowledge solicitation and expectations regarding children's family obligations) and children's adjustment (i.e., internalising and externalising problems). These data were collected via child, mother and father reports when the children were 10 years old, on average. Mothers' individualism was correlated with more parental autonomy granting. Fathers' individualism was correlated with higher maternal expectations regarding children's family obligations. Parents' higher collectivism was correlated with more with parental warmth. Mothers' higher collectivism was also correlated with more parental knowledge solicitation, and fathers' higher collectivism was also associated with mothers' and fathers' higher expectations regarding children's family obligations. Fathers' higher conformity values were correlated with more parental autonomy granting and with fewer child internalising and externalising behaviours. However, after controlling for child gender, parent education and the other cultural values, mothers' and fathers' collectivism remained the only significant cultural value predicting parenting behaviours. Results advance understanding of relations between cultural values of Thai mothers and fathers and their parenting behaviours and children's adjustment.

Cultural values, parenting and child adjustment in Kenya.

Children's, mothers' and fathers' reports were used to assess whether mothers' and fathers' individualism, collectivism and conformity values are significantly related to parenting behaviours and child adjustment during middle childhood. A sample of 95 children, 95 mothers and 94 fathers was recruited from Kisumu, Kenya. Our results indicated that controlling for child gender and parents' education, mothers' and fathers' higher collectivism values were associated with higher expectations regarding children's family obligations. Children of mothers who were more individualistic perceived that less was required of them in terms of family obligations. Mothers' conformity values were associated with more maternal and paternal warmth, and higher maternal expectations regarding children's family obligations, controlling for child gender and mothers' education. Mothers' education was significantly associated with more maternal and paternal warmth, more parental knowledge solicitation and higher paternal expectations regarding children's family obligations. Fathers' and mothers' individualism was associated with lower expectations regarding children's family obligations. Fathers' individualism was positively correlated with knowledge solicitation and more rules/limit-setting. Fathers' higher conformity values were correlated with more maternal warmth, more paternal warmth, more knowledge solicitation and mothers' and fathers' higher expectations regarding children's family obligations.

"Wise Mothers," "Mom Bugs," and Pyŏngmat (Twisted Tastes): The Limits of Maternal Emotional Expression in South Korean Webtoons

Abstract: In the last decade, South Korean webtoons have joined television dramas (K-dramas) and K-pop as an important element of the Korean Wave abroad. Domestically, the South Korean public can idly browse or religiously follow thousands of free or subscription webtoons on their smartphones. Webtoon artists may dream of achieving broader success by having their works adapted transmedially, as a web drama (online TV drama) or even better, as a network, cable or Netflix series that achieves mainstream success. Two significant subgenres of webtoons are "lifestyle webtoons" (saenghwarwept'un) and "family webtoons" (kajogwept'un) and these two subgenres are combined in what I am calling "childcare webtoons" (yugawept'un). While South Korea also follows global media trends of "mom blogs" and Instagram microcelebrities or Youtubers sharing their parenting journeys ("sharenting"), "childcare webtoons" are a particularly rich space for observing changing mothering ideologies and parenting norms. This article examines "mom humor" and other stories mothers tell across the South Korean Internet, paying particular attention to what kinds of emotional expression are sanctioned and what is taboo. I analyze webtoons such as "I'm a Mom (Nanŭn ŏmmada)" and "The Birth of a Married Woman(Yubunyŏŭi t'ansaeng)," suggesting that even as the tedium of everyday motherhood is increasingly critiqued through media, the still somewhat rigid gender roles and maternal expectations in South Korea translate into an overall more muted and subtle "mom humor" alongside the still more socially expected stories of maternal gratitude and fulfillment.

Optimising Rehabilitation Strategies for Postpartum Elderly Gravida with In Vitro Fertilisation Conception

Optimising Rehabilitation Strategies for Postpartum Elderly Gravida with In Vitro Fertilisation Conception

Maternal Health Service Satisfaction-Comparative Study of Mothers in Urban and Rural areas of Enugu State, South East Nigeria

Introduction: Assessing mothers’ satisfaction with maternal health service is very important. This is because it is critical and should be considered when making maternal health services more responsive to people’s needs. Objective: To assess and compare the maternal health service satisfaction of mothers in urban and rural areas of Enugu State, South East Nigeria. Methodology: This study was a community-based comparative, cross sectional study that assessed and compared the maternal health service satisfaction of mothers in urban and rural areas of Enugu State, South East Nigeria. The analysis was done according to the specific objectives using generated tables, ratios, frequency, percentage calculations and cross tabulations. Chi-square test of significance for test of comparison of qualitative categorical data, Student t-test for group comparison of means, Bi-variant, and Multivariate Analysis using logistic regression were used in the analysis of data at 95% confidence interval. P-value was set at 0.05. Results: 5.5% of mothers in the urban areas were satisfied with maternal health service they received when compared to mothers (79.2%) in the rural areas. Mothers in urban areas who had one pregnancy were 7.051 times less likely to be satisfied with the maternal health services when compared with other women. Mothers who obtained maternal health service from health post, Primary health care centres (PHC), district hospitals, tertiary facility, private hospital, and had less education were more satisfied with the services when compared with those who received care from Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) and spiritual homes. According to the mothers in both locations, the Factors that affect their utilization of maternal health include poor quality of maternal health service, high cost of obtaining the limited services, inadequate maternal information, in adequate staff, and bad attitude of health care workers attending to them. Conclusion/Recommendation: There is need to maintain this observed finding. However, there should be an improvement on health talk and health education given to mothers, to enable them have a better perception of their maternal expectations. This will enable the mothers to properly grade their satisfaction with maternal health services. Government should further train the health care workers including TBAs, and closely monitor the activities of spiritual homes.

Maternal expectations and paternal self-efficacy as factors associated with the occurrence of depressive symptoms in parents after childbirth.

Depressive symptoms with onset after the birth of a child can affect both parents. The aim of the presented study was to determine whether fathers and mothers differ in terms of postpartum depression symptoms and such variables as the sense of parental competence and the prenatal expectations of discrepancy, and whether these variables are related to the occurrence of postpartum depression symptoms in women and men. 271 people, including 165 women and 106 men, who became parents in the last 12 months, were examined. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Parental Sense of Competence Scale (PSOC) and Prenatal Expectations Scale (PES) was used. The results indicate differences between mothers and fathers in postpartum depressive symptoms, parental competencies, and prenatal expectations discrepancy as well. While maternal depression symptoms are determined by failure to meet prenatal expectations, depressive symptoms in new fathers are associated with a low sense of paternal competence.

The effect of an attachment-based intervention program on attachment, expectation, and stress in pregnant women: A randomized controlled study.

This study aimed to determine the effect of an attachment-based intervention program (ABIP) on attachment, prenatal expectation and stress levels in pregnant women. This randomized controlled study was conducted in the pregnant outpatient clinics of a public hospital in Turkey. The study sample consisted of a total of 154 pregnant women (77 experimental, 77 control) at 28-38 weeks of gestation. The ABIP was applied to the pregnant women in the experimental group for 5-7 days. The ABIP included five interventions: (1) perceiving/counting fetal movements; (2) music therapy; (3) preparation for the baby; (4) writing notes/letters to the baby; and (5) watching images of the fetus/pregnancy. After the ABIP, pregnant women in the experimental group had higher prenatal maternal attachment and prenatal positive expectation mean scores than those in the control group, and the difference between them was statistically significant in favor of those in the experimental group (P < .001). In addition, pregnant women in the experimental group had lower prenatal negative expectation and prenatal distress mean scores than those in the control group, and the difference between them was statistically significant in favor of those in the experimental group (P < .001). The results of this study suggest that ABIP is a unique and pioneering program to increase maternal-antenatal attachment and prenatal positive expectations and reducing prenatal negative expectations and distress through diverse interventions. However, further research is required to assess the effectiveness of ABIP on maternal-fetal attachment, prenatal maternal expectations, and prenatal distress.

P58 Maternal expectations and actual experiences of pain and anxiety during childbirth

P58 Maternal expectations and actual experiences of pain and anxiety during childbirth

Maternal expectations of fetal gender and risk of postpartum depression

BackgroundFemale offspring was associated with a high risk of postpartum depression (PPD) during the one-child policy period in China. However, little is known about the association between maternal expectations on fetal gender and the risk of PPD in the context of the new two children policy implemented in 2016.MethodsWe conducted a hospital-based cohort study of women with singleton pregnancies between 2017 and 2018 (n = 991) to address this concern. Logistic regression was run to estimate the association between unexpected fetal gender and the risk of PPD.ResultsA total of 127 women (12.8%) were diagnosed with PPD. Compared with women who achieved fetal gender expectations, the odds ratio (OR) for PPD among those who had an unexpected fetal gender was 2.44 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.30–4.58) (in the backward method logistic regression model) and 2.25 (95% CI: 1.21–4.18) (in the forward method model), respectively. The disparity of the association was significant among primiparous and pluriparous women (OR, 2.52, 95% CI: 1.32–4.84, P = 0.005 vs. OR, 0.91, 95% CI: 0.09–8.75, P = 0.932). Fetal gender expectations accounted for about 15% of the risk of PPD in the structural equation models.ConclusionsThese results indicated that unexpected fetal gender was associated with an increased risk of PPD among Chinese primiparous women.

Developmental trajectories of children's educational expectations in China: Contributions of academic achievement and maternal expectations

This longitudinal study examined the overall and heterogeneous developmental trajectories of children's educational expectations and the effects of children’'s previous academic achievements and maternal educational expectations on these trajectories. The educational expectations of 3868 Chinese children (1839 girls; Mage = 9.42 ± 0.52) were investigated six times from the 4th to 6th grades. Children's previous academic achievement and maternal educational expectations were also collected during the first wave. The results showed that Chinese children's educational expectations generally increased in middle childhood and could be categorized into four classes: high stable-increasing, low stable-increasing, low quickly-increasing, and high quickly-decreasing. Furthermore, maternal educational expectations have the greatest influence on the initial level of children's educational expectations, whereas previous academic achievement has the greatest impact on the increasing rate of children's expectations. In addition, both factors contribute to classifying children into a high-stable increasing class in comparison to the other three classes. The findings indicate that Chinese children increase their educational expectations in middle childhood and continually adapt their expectations mainly based on their previous achievements. These findings could advance our understanding of the development of children’s educational expectations in the middle childhood period and provide educational practitioners with prospective factors to increase children’s educational expectations.

Quality of the development of self-report instruments assessing women’s antepartum expectations of motherhood: a systematic review

ABSTRACT Background The selection of valid and reliable instruments for research and clinical purposes is needed to increase our understanding of the role that expectations of motherhood have in early identification and treatment of perinatal mental health difficulties. We aimed to identify and assess the psychometric properties of self-report measures of expectations of motherhood. Method A systematic review was conducted and articles describing the development or validation of quantitative self-report measures of expectations of motherhood were included. The developmental quality (risk of bias) and psychometric properties of each measure were assessed according to the 2018 COSMIN guidelines. Results Twenty-five articles describing 16 measures were identified and included. Eleven measures were designed to assess a broad range of expectations, while the remaining measures mainly assessed expectations of childbirth. The quality of measure development was mostly poor and rated as adequate or better for only three measures. The most suitable measures with the strongest evidence of good psychometric properties are the Slade-Pais Expectations About Childbirth Scale and the Rigidity of Maternal Beliefs Scale. Conclusions This systematic review of measures of expectations has identified relatively few measures with adequate psychometric properties. Further development of existing measures is needed for use in both research and clinical settings. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: Maternal mental health difficulties can have significant and long-term adverse consequences on mothers, their children, and families. Previous evidence suggests that holding unrealistic maternal expectations may contribute to postpartum mental health difficulties. Early identification of the potentially modifiable risk factor of maternal expectations may contribute to improving postpartum mental health outcomes. What this topic adds: This is the first systematic review to assess the developmental quality and psychometric properties of 16 measures of expectations of motherhood. The Slade-Pais Expectations About Childbirth Scale had the strongest evidence for good psychometric properties. For the majority of the measures, adequate methods for ensuring good content validity during measure development and validation were not used.

A Longitudinal Study of Maternal Postnatal Bonding and Psychosocial Factors that Contribute to Social-Emotional Development

In this longitudinal study, we examined how maternal bonding and psycho-social factors are associated with social-emotional problems in two-year-old children. Our data came from a birth cohort from which data were collected at four timepoints: prenatally during the third trimester, and postnatally at 3, 8 and 24 months. The participants were 1,667 mothers, of which 943 (56.6%) returned the questionnaire at each timepoint of the longitudinal study. The Children’s social-emotional problems were examined using the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment. According to linear regression analysis, maternal bonding difficulties at three and eight months, maternal expectations of the unborn baby during pregnancy, and maternal relationships within and outside the family were related to social-emotional problems in children of two years of age. The results highlight the importance of screening mothers who already prenatally have bonding problems or mothers who have bonding problems postnatally to provide effective and targeted intervention support.

A qualitative analysis of feelings and experiences associated with perinatal distress during the COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundRates of perinatal mental health difficulties (experienced during pregnancy and the 12-months postpartum) increased worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the UK, anxiety and depression were estimated to affect more than half of perinatal women during the first national lockdown. However, little is known about women’s qualitative experiences of distress. This study aimed to extend published quantitative findings resulting from the same data set (Harrison et al., Women Birth xxxx, 2021; Harrison et al., J Reprod Infant Psychol 1–16, 2021) to qualitatively explore: 1) the feelings and symptoms associated with maternal perinatal distress during the COVID-19 pandemic; and 2) the associated sources of distress.MethodsAs part of an online survey during May 2020, 424 perinatal women responded to an open-ended question regarding a recent experience of distress. Qualitative data were analysed using an initial content analysis, followed by an inductive thematic analysis adopting a realist approach. Data were explored in the context of self-reported perinatal anxiety and depression symptoms.ResultsInitial content analysis of the data identified twelve distinct categories depicting participants’ feelings and symptoms associated with psychological distress. Despite the high rates of probable depression in the sample, women’s descriptions were more indicative of anxiety and general distress, than of symptoms traditionally related to depression. In terms of the associated psychosocial stressors, a thematic analysis identified five themes: Family wellbeing; Lack of support; Mothering challenges; Loss of control due to COVID-19; and Work and finances. Unsurprisingly given the context, isolation was a common challenge. Additionally, psychological conflict between maternal expectations and the reality of pregnancy and motherhood, loss of autonomy and control, and fears surrounding family health, safety, and wellbeing underlay many of the themes.ConclusionsThis study presents an array of feelings and symptoms expressed by perinatal mothers which may be useful to consider in relation to perinatal wellbeing. Furthermore, our data highlights several common sources of distress, including multiple COVID-19 specific factors. However, many were related to more general perinatal/maternal experiences. Our findings also point to considerations that may be useful in alleviating distress in pregnancy and early motherhood, including social support, realistic perinatal/maternal expectations, and support for those with perceived perinatal trauma.

Anchors matter: Eliciting maternal expectations on educational outcomes

Subjective expectation data on education has been increasingly used by social scientists to better understand current investments in human capital. Despite its recognised value by scholars, there is little evidence about how the elicitation of such data might be sensitive to questionnaire design. Using a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design, we analyse how sensitive the elicitation of subjective expectation data on educational outcomes is to anchors. Our study provides causal evidence on whether collecting data on parental education before the elicitation of parental expectations on their children’s educational outcomes anchors the elicitation of the latter; and whether parental expectations on their older offsprings anchors their expectations on their younger children. We find that mothers (main respondents) who have been exposed to the anchored treatments report more pessimistic parental expectations. When splitting our sample into low and high educated mothers, we find that low educated mothers who have been allocated to anchored treatments are more likely to report lower levels of education than those in the non-anchored treatment. Anchored treatments also increase non-response in both high and low educated mothers, however, the effect is larger on the former. When assessing the accuracy of expectations to predict educational outcomes, we observe that anchored expectations have higher predictive power. Our findings inform to what extent the collection of subjective expectations data is subject to anchoring and which type of elicitation ( anchored or non-anchored ) should be considered according to the main purpose of the elicitation (i.e., item response vs prediction).

QUALITY OF CARE PROVIDED TO MOTHERS DURING LABOR AND DELIVERY ASSESSED BY LABOR AND DELIVERY SATISFACTION INDEX (LADSI)

Introduction: Understanding maternal expectations is an important ingredient in making childbirth a safe and satisfying experience. Knowledge gained from the study will assist to identify aspects of care that produce a high degree of patient satisfaction. Knowledge gained from the study can also lead to improved communications and relationships between mothers and providers of maternity care. Objective: To study level of satisfaction regarding quality of care provided to mothers during labor and delivery. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1035 mothers admitted in in post-partum wards of Obstetrics &amp; Gynecology department of Government Medical College, Kottayam. Socio demographic details were recorded and maternal satisfaction was assessed using LADSI six point likert scale-(strongly agree-agree-mildly agree-strongly disagree-disagree-mildly disagree). Results: The overall satisfaction of quality of care provided to mothers during labor and delivery in Kottayam medical college came to be as 64.8%. A signicant association between variables like age, income, occupation, parity, hours spent in labor room, place to overall satisfaction Conclusion: Care givers need to fully understand the expectations the mothers have and provide care that is consistent with those expectations. The Prenatal, antenatal, delivery and postnatal care should be enhanced to increase maternal satisfaction in the health services and provide maternal-friendly outcome.

Drug delivery from a solid formulation during breastfeeding-A feasibility study with mothers and infants.

Breastfeeding is critical to health outcomes, particularly in low-resource settings where there is little access to clean water. For infants in their first twelve months of life, the delivery of medications is challenging, and use of oral syringes to deliver liquid formulations can pose both practical and emotional challenges. To explore the potential to deliver medicine to infants via a solid formulation during breastfeeding. Single center feasibility study within a tertiary level neonatal unit in the UK, involving twenty-six breastfeeding mother-infant dyads. A solid formulation of Vitamin B12 was delivered to infants during breastfeeding. Outcomes included the quantitative change in serum vitamin B12 and assessment of maternal expectations and experiences. Delivery of Vitamin B12 through a solid formulation that dissolved in human milk did not impair breastfeeding, and Vitamin B12 levels rose in all infants from a mean baseline (range) 533 pg/mL (236-925 pg/mL) to 1871 pg/mL (610-4981 pg/mL) at 6-8 hours post-delivery. Mothers described the surprising ease of 'drug' delivery, with 85% reporting a preference over the use of syringes. Solid drug formulations can be delivered during breastfeeding and were preferred by mothers over the delivery of liquid formulations via a syringe.

Maternal expectations about breastfeeding: a prospective observational study of pre-partum and post-partum evaluation

Introduction: Breastfeeding is one of the main experiences that occur in the relationship between mother and baby. As stated in the Child Health Manual, breastfeeding is much more than nurturing the child, it is a process that involves deep interaction between mother and child. The view or psychological reading of the pregnant mother about the act of breastfeeding her baby and the socio-cultural image of the mother/woman who breastfeeds impact the sphere of the future personality of the newborn. Objectives: to map the set of intervening factors that interfere in the breastfeeding process, taking into account the expectations conceived by the pregnant woman before breastfeeding, in addition to the analysis of the positive and negative experiences of nursing mothers during breastfeeding in the postpartum period. Methods: an exploratory and descriptive cohort study, using qualitative and quantitative variables resulting from a questionnaire applied to 35 pregnant women during pregnant women and subsequently interviewed with them in postpartum situations. Results: Regarding the age group, the highest concentration of age was between 26 and 33 years old, but there was the participation of women in the extremes of reproductive life; the association between the time of pregnancy and the search for content/guidance on breastfeeding, most participants were between the 20th and 30th week of the pregnancy period, when they sought information on the subject; to the level of education and information on when breastfeeding should be started, among the 19 pregnant women who had higher education, 17 said it should be started during the baby's first hour of life and 02 said it should be after the first hour; among the 15 participants who had completed high school, 14 responded that it should be in the first hour and only 01 responded after the first hour, and 01 participants who reported having completed elementary school, responded that breastfeeding should be started after the first hour of life. of the baby; when asked if they were breastfed and if they had breastfed previously, 04 pregnant women answered that they had not received breast milk and of these, 03 had already breastfed children before the current pregnancy, among the 31 participants who had been breastfed, 27 said they had not yet breastfed and 04 informed that who had already lived the experience with other children. When approached in the puerperium, the most frequent findings were: 14 reported having received professional help; 13 intended to breastfeed exclusively until the 6th month; 15 had already started formula milk; 17 intended to continue breastfeeding after the baby was six months old and 09 were unable to latch on. Conclusion: Breastfeeding is shown to be one of the biggest factors of doubt and insecurity for pregnant women who enter the puerperium in search of humanized and comprehensive care. Thus, the participation of the health professional becomes essential for the success of breastfeeding and the effective dissemination of concrete and assertive knowledge, both prepartum and postpartum.

Adolescent problematic Internet use and parental involvement: The chain mediating effects of parenting stress and parental expectations across early, middle, and late adolescence.

Problematic Internet use (PIU), a common phenomenon, has negative effects on adolescents, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescents with PIU pose great challenges to parenting. However, little is known about the mediating mechanisms underlying this relationship. The study examines the chain mediating roles of parenting stress and parental expectations between PIU and parental involvement across early, middle, and late adolescence. Families (N=1206) that included fathers, mothers, and adolescents (48.9% females, Mage =13.86±2.48) participated in the study. Adolescents provided a rating of PIU, and fathers and mothers reported their own parenting stress, parental expectations, and parental involvement. The results showed that paternal parenting stress and then expectations mediated the association between PIU and paternal involvement, and maternal parenting stress and then expectations mediated the association between PIU and maternal involvement, indicating a spillover effect. By contrast, the crossover effect was established only in that maternal parenting stress was negatively related to paternal expectations in middle adolescents. Moreover, maternal expectations showed the strongest association with maternal involvement in middle adolescents, whereas paternal expectations were most associated with paternal involvement in late adolescents. These findings underline the necessity of understanding parenting by assessing adolescent developmental stages and paternal and maternal parenting separately. Furthermore, the mediators of parenting stress and parental expectations can be the focus on facilitating parental involvement; the effect of maternal parenting stress on paternal expectations may suggest that intervention programs for fathers should consider more contextual factors.

“It feels a bit like drowning”: Expectations and Experiences of Motherhood during COVID-19

What is the result of bringing unrealistic and overwhelming conditions of motherhood into the context of a global pandemic? This article aims to explore the impacts of maternal expectations and experiences in the context of COVID-19. Through first-person accounts of eighty self-identified mothers parenting through COVID, we aim to explore “good” mother myths, feelings of failure, and the paradoxical freedoms that occur under pandemic time.

Hispanic Mother-Daughter Communication About the Risks of Sex, Drugs, and Alcohol: Influences and the Strategies Mothers Use

PurposeU.S. Hispanic adolescents are at risk for negative health outcomes due to risk-taking behaviors involving sex, drugs, and alcohol. Mother-daughter communication can reduce these risk-taking behaviors and reinforce parents' expectations. The purpose of this study was to explore mothers' descriptions of their communication about risk-taking behaviors with their early adolescent Hispanic daughters. Design and methodsThis qualitative descriptive study involved focus groups with 21 Hispanic mothers of 7th grade (12–14 years old) girls. Conventional content analysis was conducted to identify the strategies they used during these conversations. ResultsStrategies mothers used included warning, focusing on negative consequences, creating opportunities to express maternal expectations, and stressing the importance of positive influences. Communication was also influenced by daughters' physical development and social media. ConclusionsThe mothers were concerned about their daughters' exposure to risk-taking behaviors but were unsure about how to talk to their daughters about how to avoid them, particularly regarding topics related to sex. Practice implicationsOur study results have implications on how to facilitate parent-child conversations about risk-taking behaviors and to equip mothers and parents to teach their children how to avoid engaging in these behaviors.