Expectations Of Mothers Research Articles

Determinants of 6-Month Maternal Satisfaction with Breastfeeding Experience in a Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study

Although a personally defined experience, successful breastfeeding is usually measured with regard to duration. This study investigated the determinants of maternal satisfaction with breastfeeding experience for 907 mothers enrolled in a prospective cohort study. Despite a median breastfeeding duration (18 weeks) that fell short of recommendations, 822 mothers (90.6%) rated their breastfeeding experience as very or fairly satisfactory. Anticipated breastfeeding duration was a determinant of satisfaction only for women who actually breastfeed < 2 months; in this subgroup of mothers, satisfaction rates ranged from 84.6% for those who anticipated breastfeeding < 2 months to 69.8% for those who anticipated breastfeeding > 4 months (P = .01). Smoking during pregnancy and experiencing breastfeeding difficulties after discharge were independently associated with decreased satisfaction. Eliciting the mother's expectations regarding breastfeeding duration may help the lactation consultant in providing appropriate guidance. Future studies should assess maternal satisfaction using validated instruments.

A Qualitative Study of Health Professionals Involved in the Care and Treatment of Women with Postnatal Emotional Distress

This project sought to gain insight into the experiences, beliefs, attitudes and personal views of postnatal emotional distress, from the perspective of the health professional. A qualitative study involved focus groups with health professionals engaged in the care and treatment of women with a postnatal mood disorder. Broad themes explored included women's recognition of symptoms, barriers to help-seeking, models of postnatal depression, detection and management, and treatment experiences and options. Health professionals identified seven key theme clusters: Coping and failure, Expectations of motherhood, Partners, Treatment experiences, Screening and identification, Framing the issue of perinatal emotional distress, Assistance for health professionals. Professionals view postnatal emotional distress as a response to social and personal pressures and an expression of the tension between becoming a mother and maintaining social standing. There is a significant need for better education to ensure that post...

Women’s experience of postnatal depression – beliefs and attitudes as barriers to care

Objective: Despite the increasing use of screening instruments to identify women with postnatal depression (PND), many do not access services and supports. It is unclear how women’s experiences of PND influence their beliefs and attitudes and their choice to seek help. We will also explore ways family, friends and health professionals can facilitate help seeking behaviours. Design: A qualitative study which explored: ‘experiences after having a baby’, ‘recognition of symptoms’, ‘seeking help’, ‘treatment experiences and options’ and ‘ideal treatment’. Setting: Participants were recruited from either hospital based outpatient PND treatment programs or community based mutual support programs. Subjects: Forty women experiencing PND and either receiving treatment or attending support groups. Main Outcome Measure: To gain an insight into the ways women experience PND and perceive their distress, and how this influences their beliefs and attitudes towards acknowledging their distress and seeking treatment. Results: Findings suggest the lived experience of PND and associated attitudes and beliefs result in significant barriers to accessing help. Eight theme clusters were identified: expectations of motherhood; not coping and fear of failure; stigma and denial; poor mental health awareness and access; interpersonal support; baby management; help‑seeking and treatment experiences and relationship with health professionals. Conclusion: Implications for improved identification and management include helping health professionals to be aware of the personal and societal barriers preventing mothers from acknowledging their distress. Media campaigns may also be helpful in challenging community views of PND, as well as highlighting the range of treatment options available to mitigate concerns over medical/pharmacological approaches.

Treinamento esfincteriano precoce: prevalência, características materna da criança e fatores associados numa coorte de nascimentos

OBJETIVOS: avaliar a prevalência de crianças sem fraldas, a idade de início do treinamento esfincteriano e a expectativa materna em relação à aquisição deste controle numa coorte de nascimentos. MÉTODOS: todas as crianças nascidas em 2004 em Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, foram incluídas em um estudo longitudinal. Aos 12 meses, as crianças tiveram seu desenvolvimento avaliado e as mães questionadas sobre o início do treinamento esfincteriano e expectativa em relação à idade da retirada das fraldas. Diferenças entre grupos foram avaliadas através de testes qui-quadrado para heterogeneidade e tendência linear. RESULTADOS: aos 12 meses de idade, 14,7% das mães tinham iniciado o treinamento esfincteriano. Apenas 2,2% receberam orientação pediátrica sobre retirada de fraldas. Os grupos de mães com maior prevalência de início de treinamento aos 12 meses foram as do primeiro quintil econômico, cinco a oito anos de escolaridade, adolescentes e maiores de 40 anos. Dois terços acham que o momento para deixar as fraldas é antes dos 18 meses; 1,3% das crianças estão sem fraldas de dia. CONCLUSÕES: o treinamento esfincteriano começou precocemente em uma parcela significativa destas crianças, sendo desprezível a proporção de mães orientadas pelos pediatras. Informações sobre o momento ideal e métodos adequados de controle esfincteriano devem ser oferecidas às mães, no contexto da puericultura e atenção básica à saúde.

"Tava morta e revivi": significado de maternidade para adolescentes com experiência de vida nas ruas

The discovery of sexuality by adolescent girls living in the streets generally involves lack of knowledge about their own bodies, often resulting in risk behaviors for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. This study aimed to identify the meanings ascribed to motherhood by teenage girls with a history of living in the streets and who chose to assume the care for their children, off the streets. Based on a qualitative methodology, data were collected from the adolescent mothers at a nongovernmental shelter and analyzed according to the content analysis modality. The results were discussed using the category "new life: mother & child", showing that the adolescents ascribed a positive meaning to motherhood, with the child seen as both a "savior" from the mother's certain death on the streets and a repository for the mother's expectations for a better future. The article concludes by analyzing motherhood as an opportunity for establishing new ways of being in (and relating to) the world, with the construction of this motherhood process as a potentially fertile ground for intervention by health professionals.

Symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in first-time expectant women: Relations with parenting cognitions and behaviors.

The relationship between maternal symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and parenting cognitions and behaviors was studied in 86 first-time expectant women. Women high on ADHD symptoms were less likely to be married, less likely to have obtained at least some university education, and less likely to report that they wanted to get pregnant at the time they became pregnant. As predicted, ADHD symptoms were positively correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression, and predicted less positive prenatal expectations regarding the infant and the future maternal role and lower maternal self-efficacy. Contrary to predictions, ADHD did not predict any incremental variance in maternal stressful life events or social support. Symptoms of ADHD were negatively correlated with attendance at recommended prenatal checkups, but were unrelated to other behaviors during pregnancy. Findings suggest that even prior to any contact with their infant, women with ADHD symptoms have maladaptive cognitions regarding their expectations of motherhood and parenting abilities. As a result, they may benefit from early interventions that focus on attenuating the potential negative effects that these maladaptive cognitions might have on the mother-infant relationship and later developmental outcomes for their children.

Nurturing Herself, Nurturing Her Baby: Creating Positive Experiences for First-time Mothers through Lullaby Singing

BECOMING A MOTHER IS ONE OF THE MOST defining moments in a woman's life. For the majority of women today the joys of motherhood are both real and plentiful. However, hand in hand with the great joys of motherhood can come great sorrow, anger, frustration, 2pain, confusion, and constraint. The modern mother lives in the constant shadow of her own mother's abilities and the mother myth. (1) She continually asks herself, Am I doing a good job? Is this the best thing for my baby? Why won't my baby stop crying? When will my baby go to sleep? and ultimately she may feel as though she doesn't measure up. The modern mother tries to balance attempt to conform to the romanticized and imagined constructions of motherhood with the reality of her daily experiences and life as a mother. (2) Women today are no longer thoroughly at home with being at home. (3) Instead, they are primed for achievement, to want and expect to have it all at once-career, house, husband, children, and happiness. (4) For many women, the reality of bringing a life into this world disrupts this picture-perfect image of the ideal woman. (5) There is a mismatch, long shrouded in a conspiracy of silence, between women's expectations of motherhood and what they experience, what they feel and how they manage as mothers. (6) Other realities set in such as feeling out of control, loss of freedom, loneliness and isolation, entrapment, lack of achievement and recognition, and interruption to personal interests. A mother catches sight of herself in the mirror and sees a clear message--she is not the woman who has it all and so is a failure. However, mothers have been taught how to wear the many masks of motherhood well. These masks are in fact an assemblage of fronts, mostly brave, serene and all-knowing, used as a coping mechanism to silence, muffle, and disguise the chaos and complexity of a mother's lived experience. (7) The modern mother lives in the constant shadow of her own mother's abilities and the mother myth. (8) The naked truth of motherhood is that not every woman copes, and prolonged feelings of not coping can lead to a number of mental health issues for the mother and her baby. They may also affect her relationship with her partner. Singing lullabies has long been a part of many mothers' coping and survival tools, particularly when soothing a distressed baby. Several studies have examined the effects that lullaby singing has on infants, their sleep patterns, and motherinfant bonding. For example, studies have examined the effects of music on selected stress behaviors, weight, and caloric and formula intake of low-birth-weight neonates in a newborn intensive care unit. (9) They have also examined the therapeutic effects of music and of mothers' voice on premature infants, with overwhelmingly positive effects. (10) Similarly, studies with newborns show the value in using lullabies to promote sleep (11) Other studies have shown how music, including lullabies, promotes meaningful mother-infant interaction. (12) While the primary purpose of the lullaby is to put children to sleep, in many cultures the performance of lullabies serves other secondary functions such as enculturation of the infant in musical as well as conceptual and social terms, (13) Babies are recipients rather than performers, and thus lullabies are not intended to be sung by children but rather to be sung to and for the child by adult. Most often, the performance of lullabies is considered to be the domain of women, and these musical moments can provide the infant with significant physical, emotional, mental, and social contact with female relatives, particularly the infant's mother. As sung texts, lullabies also serve as outlet for emotional engagement and expression by the performer, thus serving the dual function of soothing a child while simultaneously releasing the singer's own feelings of desire and discontent. (14) The song texts of lullabies can therefore reflect social and musical themes of interest to mothers and adult listeners. …

Assets, Expectations, and Children’s Educational Achievement in Female‐Headed Households

This study examines the relationships of mother's assets (home ownership and savings) to, respectively, mother's expectations of child's educational achievement and child's actual educational outcomes in female‐headed households. Analysis of data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) indicates that assets of single mothers are positively associated with child’s educational achievement and that this relationship is partially mediated through expectations. Positive association of household income with child’s outcomes occurs mainly through mother's assets. The study indicates that regression models that include income but not assets are underspecified. Results support expansion of asset‐based policies for poor women with children.

Primary Care Pediatricians’ Roles and Perceived Responsibilities in the Identification and Management of Maternal Depression

By impeding emotional attachment and altering mother-child interactions, maternal may substantially impair a child's health. Depression also may alter a mother's expectations of parenting, lower her confidence,and compromise her parenting skills. Many have recommended that primary care clinicians become more involved in managing maternal depression. This national survey asked 888 randomly chosen US primary care pediatricians about their personal experience with maternal and their views about barriers to care and how to implement new strategies to improve care. The 508 respondents were 57% of those contacted. A majority of the pediatricians (57%) accepted a responsibility to recognize maternal depression, and they also were more likely to take an interest in other psychosocial issues of concern to the child and family. Perceived responsibility could not be related to particular attributes of the physicians or their practice patterns. The pediatricians tended to focus on the child's problems or the mother's behaviors and appearance rather than on the family history. Patients were not routinely asked about depressive symptoms. Those who felt responsible for recognizing maternal were the likeliest to evaluate the risk of suicide. One third of physicians reported using the term depression when talking with the mother, but even more discussed the problem without labeling it. A sizable proportion, 28%, did not discuss it at all. In addition to referrals, many pediatricians provided brief interventions. The most obvious perceived barriers to care were a lack of adequate time to take a history or provide counseling and insufficient training in and knowledge about how to diagnose and treat depression. Although many respondents felt confident about diagnosing maternal depression, very few were confident in their ability to treat it effectively. Nevertheless they did acknowledge having an educational role. In general, primary care physicians feel limited in their ability to recognize and treat maternal depression. Educational efforts and novel clinical approaches might best be directed to practitioners who accept a responsibility in this area and who are willing to change their approach.

Mothers' involvement in their learning disabled children schooling

Problem: This study deals with mothers' involvement in their learning disabled children schooling defined as different mothers' activities: support for doing homework, negative control of homework, mother-child discussions about learning and school activities, child reinforcement for learning. Mothers' involvement in child's schooling is discussed in the light of family factors - mother's feelings and attitudes toward the child, child's "goodness of fit" to mother's expectations, mother's education level, family status and stressful life events - possibly related to particular forms of mothers' involvement.Sample: Experimental group consisted of 92 primary school children (8-11 years old) diagnosed as learning disabled and control group - 90 average achievers from the same classes as children from experimental group.Evaluation tools: Mothers' involvement with child?s learning was assessed via Mothers' Involvement in Child's Schooling Scale (constructed by author of article), mothers - feelings and attitudes toward the child - via Mothers - Feelings Scale (constructed by author of article), child's "goodness of fit" to mother's expectations - via technique recommended by Feagans and al. (1991). Data on family status, mother's education level and family stressful life events were gathered through family questionnaire made by author of article.Results: Results revealed that mothers of learning disabled children are more controlling as well as give more positive reinforcement and support for child's learning when compared to mothers of average achievers. Mothers of learning disabled children report higher degree of dissatisfaction with themselves as mothers as well as more negative feelings toward child. Mother's positive feelings toward child and child' high fit within mother's expectations positively correlated with child reinforcement, mother-child discussions about learning and school as well as with general level of mother's involvement in child's schooling. Negative control of homework was higher when child's fit within mother's expectations was low. Negative control had positive statistically significant correlation with mother's negative feelings toward child. Other family features such as stressful live events, family status is to be considered in the examination of mother's involvement with their learning disabled children schooling.

Vinculo mãe-bebê pré-termo: as possibilidades de interlocução na situação de internação do bebê

The purpose of this study is to consider the bond mother-infant and the possibilities of intervention during the hospitalization of extremely preterm infants (infants born weighing 1,500 g/30 week-gestational age). At first, these infants appear as rather different from the mother's expectations and, due to hospitalization, need to be parted from her at the moment of birth. In this work, the interventions were carried out with the objective of establishing communication among the various parties involved, mother, infant and multidisciplinary team, by approaching and trying to understand the mother in the diverse moments of hospitalization of extremely preterm infants.

Designer genes: three photographs of the future and a call for debate.

Snapshot: A small, windowless doctor's examining room. A hip-high examination table in the center of the room is covered by a disposable paper sheet. Someone has painted the walls a soothing shade of mauve. At the far end of the room are a sink, a cabinet above the sink, a sterilizer and needle disposal unit on the counter top (all stainless steel). The opposite corner of the room holds a reproduction mission oak chair, the seat upholstered in leather, and a matching magazine stand. A pair of jeans and a white T-shirt hang from a row of wooden hooks above the chair. Brenda Calloway, a stylishly career-dressed woman of about fifty, sits on the chair holding a portfolio-style purse and a denim bag. Her make-up and hair are impeccable. Her daughter Samantha, age 17, sits on the end of the examining table; she is wearing a short green paper gown. Her hair is blond, straight and very long. She thumbs through an old copy of People magazine, glancing somewhat nervously at the door every few seconds. Brenda is the chief financial officer of a medium-sized restaurant supply company. Samantha is her only child, born when Brenda and her husband were in their early thirties. Brenda has high hopes for her daughter's future, for her accomplishments, and happiness. Samantha sometimes chafes under her mother's expectations, but the two have a very close relationship.

Mental disease postpartum: Maternal expectations of and maternal reports of infant temperament

In a longitudinal study 14 mentally ill women were compared with a control sample of 24 somatically ill women. Both samples were admitted to the hospital within 6 months after delivery. Another control sample of 76 healthy women was included in the study. The mother's expectations of and later reports of infant temperament were investigated at different points during the infant's first 15 months of life. Infants in the psychiatric sample were rated as more difficult to manage than the other groups at 10 months. When compared with the expectations of healthy mothers, the expectations of mentally ill mothers and somatically ill mothers were found to be less predictive of their reports of their infants' temperamental behavior.

Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels by Natalie J. McKnight (review)

80Victorian Review Natalie J. McKnight. Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels. New York: St. Martin's P, 1997. xi + 162. $39.95 US (cloth). In recent years many critical works have appeared which deal with Victorian womanhood or female characters in Victorian fiction. Some of what is contained in Natalie McKnight's book Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels will, as a result, necessarily strike us as familiar. Her specific focus on motherhood, however, is interesting and intelligently presented. This is also a timely book since it appears at a time when motherhood is being reassessed. Victorian ideals of motherhood, as McKnight points out, are still much with us and readers who are or who have considered becoming mothers will find the study carries added resonance. The book's focus is upon the figure of the mother in mid-Victorian fiction, a figure whose importance McKnight rightly states has not been adequately considered. Through discussion of motherhood in novels by Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, William Thackeray and George Eliot, this book demonstrates that mother characters are made into angels or monsters, longed for or feared, absent or punished but are "always powerfully present even in their absence" (33). Mothers are shown to be characters who in a variety of ways — emotionally, physically, economically or socially — suffer or are suffered by those around them particularly their children. The focus is more on reactions to motherhood by authors and characters rather than on mothers' own views of motherhood. McKnight argues that all four writers she discusses demonstrate, in different ways, the influences both of society's views of motherhood and of personal psychological tensions. She uses a dual historicist and psychoanalytical approach in which the psychoanalytical strand is predominant. The historicist aspects of the argument fall by the wayside in analysis of the novels which is a pity because the first chapter which sets up the historical background contains much that is of interest and worthy of further discussion. McKnight examines the image of motherhood created in the midVictorian period by the flourishing of conduct manuals for women, medical books, periodical literature on the subject and Queen Victoria's fecund image. She demonstrates that sociocultural expectations of mothers were unrealistic, contradictory and induced frustration in mothers and in those whose mothers did not live up to the ideal of almost deified selflessness. We might quibble with the ease with which some conclusions are drawn in the historical chapter and find odd that there is only slight reference to the role of religion in determining standards of motherhood, particularly suffering motherhood. There is, Reviews81 however, much that is fascinating here. McKnight shows, for example, that Queen Victoria, mother of nine and widely perceived as an ideal mother, in fact had a horror of sex, pregnancy, childbirth and babies and suffered from post-partum depression. Victoria's real and quite realistic feelings about motherhood, so far from the ideal, would McKnight suggests, "place her in the ranks of the villains in the novelistic world" (16). The second chapter discusses psychoanalytical mothering theories which become central in the examination of novels in the succeeding chapters. The discussion of the implications of mothers being the dominant caregiver is a useful one. Complete power by a mother over a child in infancy, it is argued, leads to resistance to female authority in both men and women because it reminds them of childhood frustrations. McKnight focuses on the various tensions motherhood creates in children. She draws particularly on Melanie Klein's model of hostility to the mother followed by a need for repair or reparation. Creativity in Klein's view is often motivated by guilt towards the mother and the need to make reparation. Writers' own expectations of motherhood are a key element of the chapters that follow, one chapter devoted to each of the four novelists considered. McKnight's examination is not entirely biographical but she draws psychoanalytically on each writer's relationship or lack of relationship with his or her mother. Authors, she argues, can provide missing mothers or replace unsatisfactory ones by creating mother characters. She demonstrates that Dickens and Thackeray show clearly in their novels the angel/monster extremes of motherhood and contain more...

Attitudes toward motherhood in postnatal depression: Development of the Maternal Attitudes Questionnaire

This article describes the development of the Maternal Attitudes Questionnaire (MAQ), a 14-item self-report instrument measuring cognitions relating to role change, expectations of motherhood, and expectations of the self as a mother in postnatal women. This questionnaire was found to have good test-retest and internal reliability. In a large sample of women ( n=483) at 6–8 weeks postpartum, scores on the questionnaire were highly correlated with scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R). Cluster analysis demonstrated that, among depressed women with similar symptom scores on the CIS-R, the MAQ discriminated a group with low MAQ scores and a group with high MAQ scores. This finding supports the hypothesis that women who are depressed postnatally are cognitively heterogeneous; such differences may be important in understanding the etiology and determining the treatment of postnatal depression.

Mothers' help seeking as care initiated in a social context.

To develop from the literature a rationale for a theoretical model of help seeking by mothers of young infants and to explore this model for two mothers. Components of the help that mothers of young infants often seek concerning caregiving are specified and linked in the theoretical model. This type of model is needed to support research and development of theory concerning help seeking. Working model includes: (a) the meaning to the mother of a caregiving situation; (b) her goals in seeking help; (c) formal and informal sources of help; and (d) a mother's expectations about accessibility of help and her willingness to seek help. Forty-six mothers of healthy, full-term infants completed a self-report form 3 months after the infant's birth. Responses of two mothers are used to illustrate the model. Mothers used categorical options to describe the four working model components for four hypothetical infant-care situations derived from mothers' reports in an earlier study. Mothers used ordinal rating scales to describe their help seeking in general. The two mothers expected help sources to be accessible and were willing to seek help for caregiving from all types of help sources. Although both viewed themselves as having little need of help, both reported they would seek help for all the hypothetical problems. However, the women differed in what they wanted from help and from whom they would seek it and in variability in several working model components across caregiving situations. Examination of the two mothers' responses suggests that the theoretical model provides a base for study of mothers' help seeking. Maternal experience and environmental and personal conditions may shape working model components. Further model development may require a narrative approach to learn about conditions associated with help seeking as well as to obtain a full sense of the meaning and expectation components of the working model. Knowledge of a mother's working model of help seeking can aid clinicians in responding sensitively to requests for help and in supporting a mother in seeking help.

Kin Support and Family Stress: Two Sides to Early Childbearing and Support Networks

Family assistance helps many teenage or young unmarried mothers to cope with poverty and the challenges of childbearing. Kin support to young mothers, while beneficial, should not be romanticized. It also often entails conflict, stress, frustration, and disappointment due to interpersonal tensions, or conflicting interests, or relatives' limited ability to provide support. Nearly always the underlying issue is a discrepancy between the young mother's expectations and her support network's performance. We describe three sources of unrealistic expectations: relatives' initial reactions to her pregnancy, a history of early childbearing by relatives, and desires for a relationship with baby's father.

Evaluation and meaning of emotional reactions of fear during the pregnancy

This article describes the development of the Maternal Attitudes Questionnaire (MAQ), a 14-item self-report instrument measuring cognitions relating to role change, expectations of motherhood, and expectations of the self as a mother in postnatal women. This questionnaire was found to have good test-retest and internal reliability. In a large sample of women (n=483) at 6–8 weeks postpartum, scores on the questionnaire were highly correlated with scores on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R). Cluster analysis demonstrated that, among depressed women with similar symptom scores on the CIS-R, the MAQ discriminated a group with low MAQ scores and a group with high MAQ scores. This finding supports the hypothesis that women who are depressed postnatally are cognitively heterogeneous; such differences may be important in understanding the etiology and determining the treatment of postnatal depression.

Transition into Motherhood: Pregnant Daughters’ Responses to Their Mothers

The author presents pregnant daughters’ reports about how their mothers influenced their own identities as mothers. Analysis of qualitative interview data suggested that mother–daughter relationships served as reference points for daughters’ ideologies about motherhood and were more varied than is often assumed. Daughters’ mixed feelings about their mothers and the role of this ambivalence in their own conceptions of motherhood may reflect the difficulties that mothers have in conforming to idealized images and expectations of motherhood. Clinical implications are discussed.

Mothers' Solutions to Childrearing Problems: Conditions and Processes

Parenting style is the constellation of parental perspectives about childrearing that create a context in which parenting behaviors are expressed (Smetana, 1995). Much has been written about parenting styles and their consequences for a child's academic and social competence and adaptive behavior (Baumrind, 1971, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994; Clark, 1983; Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts, & Fraleigh, 1987; Dumas & LeFreniere, 1993; Maccoby Martin, 1983; Panzarine, 1989; Smetana, 1995; Steinberg, Lamborn, Darling, Mounts, & Dornbusch, 1994). However, little is known about parental behaviors that are likely to be components of parenting styles. When one of these styles, labeled authoritative by Baumrind (1971), is operative, the parent is responsive to the child, encourages and firmly supports a child's striving for autonomy, and guides the child's activities. Another parenting style, labeled authoritarian by Baumrind, is characterized by attempts to control the child's behavior and to curb autonomy when the child's actions conflict with the parent's standards of acceptable behavior. A parent's handling of childrearing problems is one type of behavior that is likely to underlie parental styles. Childrearing problems are common, everyday occurrences, and tend to be generated, from a parent's perspective, by the child's behavior or the responses of others to the child's behavior in home, neighborhood, or school activities. A childrearing problem provides a setting in which a mother enacts a style of parenting and, in the process, instigates and shapes the child's cognitive and personal-social development (Bronfenbrenner, 1993). The problem-solving processes a mother uses and the solutions she generates in response to a childrearing problem can be viewed as components of parenting style. These processes and solutions structure the child's learning and ultimately shape how the child problem solves interpersonal problems (Bronfenbrenner, 1993; Rogoff & Garner, 1984). The purpose of this article is to explore the problem-solving processes and solutions that a mother generates in response to childrearing problems and the links among processes and solutions. In particular, we are interested in types of solutions that are consistent with a parenting style that nurtures and supports a child' s personal and cognitive development. QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF SOLUTIONS Two aspects of solutions generated for everyday problems -- quantity and quality -- are associated with clinically important outcomes. Both aspects of solution generation are likely to be dimensions of parenting styles. The quantity of solutions generated for practical, everyday problems, such as childrearing problems, has consistently predicted adaptive behavioral and emotional responses for the problem solver and positive relationships with others (Heppne & Krauskopf, 1987; Nezu, Nezu, & Perri, 1989; Shure, 1988). Azar, Robinson, Hekinans, and Twentyman (1984) found that mothers who maltreated their children did not generate as many solutions to typical childrearing problems as mothers who did not maltreat their children. Generation of a number of solutions to a problem indicates flexibility of thought and resourcefulness, supports persistence in problem solving, and increases the chances of success in resolving the problem (Nezu, Nezu, & Perri, 1989; Shure, 1988). Furthermore, generation of a number of solutions may underlie a style of parenting that is responsive to the child and supportive of the child's development, whereas generation of only one or a few solutions may be a marker of a parenting style that controls the child's behavior and limits autonomy. The quality of a mother's solutions to childrearing problems may be gauged by whether or not the solution potentially assists the child in understanding the mother's expectations, in learning approaches to and gaining experience in problem solving, and in gaining a sense of efficacy and worth as a member of the family and community. …