Recollections Of Women Research Articles

Mothers' recollections of parenting by their own mothers and fathers and maternal and infant outcomes.

Using a family network approach, we examined patterns of remembered parental rearing by both parents and associations with maternal and infant outcomes. Women's memories of how they were cared for by their own mothers in childhood are associated with important outcomes in the perinatal period. However, few studies assess women's recollections of caregiving by their fathers, despite fathers' influence on the larger family context and child adjustment. We combined data from two prospective longitudinal studies of mothers and their infants (N = 468) in the perinatal period to identify profiles of remembered parental rearing by both parents using latent profile analysis and examined how these profiles were associated with maternal depressive symptoms, mothers' perceived romantic relationship satisfaction, parenting, and infant socioemotional problems. Four distinct profiles of remembered parental rearing emerged: two supportive parents, two unsupportive parents, a supportive mother but unsupportive father, and a supportive father but unsupportive mother. Results document the differential effects of these profiles on parenting and other maternal and infant outcomes. Remembering two supportive parents confers the most benefit for mothers and their infants. For mothers with nonsupportive childhood experiences, processing that legacy within a therapeutic relationship may bolster multiple perinatal domains.

Changing the gendered status quo in engineering? The encouraging and discouraging experiences of young women with engineering aspirations.

Young women remain underrepresented among engineering bachelor's degree holders. While there is a relatively large body of extant research on the many factors that curtail young women's interest in pursuing engineering, less is known about high school girls who are on an engineering pathway. Therefore, this study focuses on a select group of precollege young women who express a strong interest in engineering. Specifically, informed by theories of gender as a social system and previous empirical research, this mixed-methods study explores the constellation of significant actors within the daily lives of these young women, to understand from whom and how they are supported in pursuing this gender-atypical field, and simultaneously, from whom and how they are discouraged. To do so, the researchers analyzed survey and interview data from a sample of diverse high school girls who participate in the Society of Women Engineers' (SWE) SWENext programme. Quantitative results indicate that young women report high levels of encouragement from most sources, including parents, teachers, and other young women. However, across various peer contexts, they receive much more support from other young women than from young men. Qualitative results further reveal that parents and teachers stand out in young women's recollections of encouragement, often through advocating their participation in engineering activities or providing mentoring support. In contrast, young men in engineering spaces were recalled as particularly discouraging of their engineering participation, by socially or physically excluding them or refusing to provide recognition. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Women's Life Experiences and Shifting Reports of Pregnancy Planning.

Unplanned pregnancy is associated with adverse consequences for women. Yet, these associations are typically based on women's reports of pregnancy planning provided post birth. Therefore, women's recollection of their pregnancy planning may be influenced by their adverse life circumstances following the pregnancy, artificially driving these associations. To understand how post-birth experiences pattern women's recall of their pregnancy planning, we conducted 17 in-depth interviews with young women (24-34 years old) enrolled in a longitudinal study in southern Malawi. Respondents who were pregnant at the time of data collection in 2015 answered close-ended questions about the planning of their pregnancy. During in-depth interviews three years later, women discussed their life experiences since the pregnancy and were re-asked a subset of the same questions about the planning of the 2015 pregnancy. We thematically coded respondents' narratives about their relationships, parenting, and economic situations in the three years following their pregnancy and mapped these onto changes in women's pre- and post-birth reports of their pregnancy planning. More than one-half of respondents recalled their pregnancy planning differently than they did pre-birth-some as more planned, others as less planned. The presence and direction of women's changing reports were patterned by the quality of their relationship with the child's father, the father's involvement as a partner and parent, and their economic situation. Women's life experiences following a birth correspond with changes in their pregnancy planning reports, emphasizing the limitations of using retrospective measures to study the consequences of unplanned fertility.

Black-White Differences in Pregnancy Desire During the Transition to Adulthood.

This article explores race differences in the desire to avoid pregnancy or become pregnant using survey data from a random sample of 914 young women (ages 18-22) living in a Michigan county and semi-structured interviews with a subsample of 60 of the women. In the survey data, desire for pregnancy, indifference, and ambivalence are very rare but are more prevalent among Black women than White women. In the semi-structured interviews, although few women described fatalistic beliefs or lack of planning for future pregnancies, Black and White women did so equally often. Women more often described fatalistic beliefs and lack of planning when retrospectively describing their past than when prospectively describing their future. Using the survey data to compare prospective desires for a future pregnancy with women's recollections of those desires after they conceived, more Black women shifted positive than shifted negative, and Black women were more likely to shift positive than White women-that is, Black women do not differentially retrospectively overreport prospectively desired pregnancies as having been undesired before conception. Young women's consistent (over repeated interviews) prospective expression of strong desire to avoid pregnancy and correspondingly weak desire for pregnancy, along with the similarity of Black and White women's pregnancy plans, lead us to conclude that a "planning paradigm"-in which young women are encouraged and supported in implementing their pregnancy desires-is probably appropriate for the vast majority of young women and, most importantly, is similarly appropriate for Black and White young women.

Антропология повседневности в социальной памяти советских женщин-ученых (на примере Новосибирска, 1950-е — начало 1990-х гг.)

In this article the author revelas the way of life and daily life of women scientists in regional scientific centers unsing the example of Novosibirsk Academic Town. The basis for this research was the recollections of women about the process of creation of Novosibirsk scientific center. Having analyzed the history of the evolution of daily life space from the point of view of women’s perception and female type of memorization the author comes to the conclusion that Novosibirsk Academic Town formed a specific type of daily life culture for women. The author also points out that the high social status and a certain number of pivileges for scientists made the wives of scientists dependent on their husbands, predetermining the conditions of saving the marriage and becoming an obstacle for their careers.

Facing the void: Recollections of embodying fear in the space of childhood homes

Homes occupy a complex and contradictory space in our lived, symbolic and imaginary geographies. Often idealised as a sanctuary, homes are also places of conflict, tension and danger. The research presented in this paper used a Memory Work Group method to explore women's recollections of embodying fear as children, in the context of their childhood homes. Our analysis suggests that experiences of fear were remembered in terms of a sense of separation, or being in a relational void. This void can be described as a felt and sensed relational space, characterised by a lack of communication and sense of nothingness. As such, others were present, but the child experienced not being seen/not seeing others, simultaneously being there with the other, but also experiencing not existing to the other. We suggest here that remembered experiences of fear were lived through materially, and in process with objects and spaces not as passive backdrops, but as giving opportunity to and participating in meaning making and the management of the embodiment of fear, and felt sense of relational void. These findings are discussed in relation to the role of children's imagination in navigating the disparity between child and adult experiences of the world, as well as the potential role of memory as a route to bridging the gap between child and adult understandings and experiences of embodying emotion.

Recollections of puberty and disordered eating in young women

Puberty begins a period of vulnerability for disordered eating that is maintained and amplified through adolescence and early adulthood. In the present study, we test the association between young women's recollections of physical maturation and disordered eating outcomes in early adulthood. Participants comprised N = 421 female undergraduate students at a large, northeastern university in the United States (Mage = 19.7 years). Three models assessed the relative contributions of recollected puberty (perceptions of changes and preparedness, and timing of puberty), current contextual (social support, romantic bond, sorority or sport participation), and demographic (race, socioeconomic status, family structure) variables to three eating-disorder outcomes. Recollections of feeling unprepared and disliking the physical changes of puberty predicted eating disorder symptoms more than any other demographic or current contextual factor. Results indicate that how young women experience the pubertal transition is related to eating disorder symptoms many years later.

Rural Youth Culture in Early Twentieth-Century New York State

Many early twentieth-century observers attributed the migration of young people from the countryside to the city as much to the dullness of rural life as to its declining economic opportunities. The recollections of women and men who had grown up in a rural community near a rapidly growing urban area in south-central New York State, however, demonstrate that young people conducted a vibrant social life that was marked by heterosociality as well as relative independence from adults. Rural youth participated in urban institutions and partook of commercial amusements without abandoning their attachment to rural culture.

Age shock: misperceptions of the impact of age on fertility before and after IVF in women who conceived after age 40

What do older women understand of the relationship between age and fertility prior and subsequent to delivering their first child? Women who were first-time parents over the age of 40 did not accurately perceive the relationship between age and fertility prior to conceiving with IVF. While increases in women's age at their first birth have been most pronounced in relatively older women, the rapidity of fertility decline is not appreciated by most non-infertility specialist physicians, the general public or men and women who are delaying childbearing. Qualitative retrospective interviews were conducted from 2009 to 2011 with 61 self-selected women who were patients in one of two fertility clinics in the USA. All participants had delivered their first child following IVF when the woman was 40 years or older. The data include women's responses to the semi-structured and open-ended interview questions 'What information did you have about fertility and age before you started trying to get pregnant?' and 'What did you learn once you proceeded with fertility treatment?' Of the women, 30% expected their fertility to decline gradually until menopause at around 50 years and 31% reported that they expected to get pregnant without difficulty at the age of 40. Reasons for a mistaken belief in robust fertility included recollections of persistent and ongoing messaging about pregnancy prevention starting in adolescence (23%), healthy lifestyle and family history of fertility (26%), and incorrect information from friends, physicians or misleading media reports of pregnancies in older celebrity women (28%). Participants had not anticipated the possibility that they would need IVF to conceive with 44% reporting being 'shocked' and 'alarmed' to discover that their understanding of the rapidity of age-related reproductive decline was inaccurate'. In retrospect, their belated recognition of the effect of age on fertility led 72% of the women to state that they felt 'lucky' or had 'beaten the odds' in successfully conceiving after IVF. Of the women, 28% advocated better fertility education earlier in life and 23% indicated that with more information about declining fertility, they might have attempted conception at an earlier age. Yet 46% of women acknowledged that even if they had possessed better information, their life circumstances would not have permitted them to begin childbearing earlier. Both the self-selected nature of recruitment and the retrospective design can result in biases due to memory limitations or participant assimilation and/or contrast of past events with current moods. The cohort did not reflect broad homogeneity in that the participants were much more likely to be highly educated, Caucasian and better able to pay for treatment than national population norms. As attitudes of older women who were unsuccessful after attempting IVF in their late 30s or early 40s are not represented, it is possible (if not likely) that the recollections of women who did not conceive after IVF would have been more strongly influenced by feelings of regret or efforts to deflect blame for their inability to conceive. While the failure to appreciate the true biological relationship between aging and fertility may be common and may reflect inaccessibility or misinterpretation of information, it is not sufficient to explain the decades-long socio-demographic phenomenon of delayed childbearing.

Caring for a child with a learning disability born into the family unit: women's recollections over time

This is the authors' print-print version of an article published in Scandianavian journal of disability research which is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15017419.2010.540827

Understanding women’s experiences of distress during pregnancy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Several studies show depression is common during pregnancy. However, there is limited information in Tanzania on the magnitude of perceived distress during pregnancy and meanings ascribed to such distress. A descriptive survey collected data using unstructured interviews from 12 traditional practitioners and 10 peri-urban women with previous pregnancy related mental health concerns identified using a depression vignette. The objectives were to describe the sources and characteristics of distress during pregnancy, and idioms of distress that could inform cultural adaptation of depression screening tools. Narrative analysis showed an emergent category of "problematic pregnancies" framed women's recollections of prolonged periods of sadness. This experience was qualified using various idioms of distress that were differentially emphasized depending on informant's perceived causes of health concern. The idiom kusononeka was consistently used to describe extreme sadness across causal categories and clustered with at least two typical features of major depression. This suggested existence of a construct with similarities to biomedical criteria for depression. "Thinking too much" emerged as a distinctive expression associated with prolonged sadness. Distinctive expressions of social functioning impairments were identified that can inform depression severity assessments. In conclusion, contextual inquiry into experiences of psychological distress showed distinct local idioms that clustered in patterns similar to symptoms of biomedical depressive episodes. Further studies to assess the utility of local idioms of distress and distress related functional impairment in depression assessment tools are warranted.

Barbie at 50: Maligned but benign?

Barbie, the toy fashion doll, has been subjected to extensive speculation but little empirical investigation as to whether her thin persona exerts a negative influence on the self-image of young girls. The present study was conducted to examine the impact of childhood Barbie play versus other factors on self-image and dieting behaviors of young women. A survey was completed by 254 undergraduate women that included questions about childhood Barbie play, family characteristics, satisfaction with their own appearance, and eating behaviors. Neither age of acquisition or number of Barbies owned had a significant impact on self-evaluations of appearance or on dieting behavior. The strongest predictor of dieting behavior was the women's recollection of how much physical appearance was valued by her family of origin members.

A Qualitative Analysis of Women’s Short Accounts of Labour and Birth in a Western Australian Public Tertiary Hospital

This paper reports the findings of the postnatal qualitative arm of a larger study, which investigated women's prenatal and postnatal levels of childbirth fear. Women's expectations and experiences of labour and birth in a Western Australian public tertiary hospital were identified following thematic analysis of short written accounts from 141 participants who had given birth in the previous 6 to 14 weeks. Four major categories emerged to describe features and mediating factors in the trajectory of childbirth and the early puerperium. "Anticipating Labour and Birth," "Labour and Birth Depicted," "Mediating Factors and their Consequences," and "Evaluating, Resolving, and Looking Ahead" portray women's comparative reflections on expectations and realities of birth, on mediating influences, and on moving on from their experience. These findings will provide maternity care professionals with insight into the personal and environmental features of the childbirth setting which colours women's recollections. Being aware of what women value during labour and birth will reinforce the need for professionals to provide care using a mindful approach that considers the potential psychological, emotional, and behavioural implications of events.

Which surgical decisions should patients participate in and how? Reflections on women's recollections of discussions about variants of hysterectomy

Current guidance about informed consent suggests patients ought to know about the procedures involved in any treatments they agree to undergo, and have a right to be involved in decisions about their care. However, it is not clear how this guidance is and should be applied to decisions between variant surgical procedures such as abdominal or vaginal hysterectomy. We sent structured questionnaires about information provision and decision-making to 157 women who were scheduled for hysterectomy in north-east Scotland. A purposive sub-sample of 20 women was interviewed in depth post-operatively. 104 women (66%) responded to the questionnaires. 75% reported being told at outpatient clinics what kind of hysterectomy they would have, but fewer than half had been told about the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds. Between 26% and 65% of women thought they had been given too little information about various issues pertaining to different types of hysterectomy. The interview accounts suggested that gynaecologists offered women little opportunity to influence the selection of a surgical procedure. Women did not express a desire for a greater say in this selection, but appreciated being told, or would have liked to know, why particular procedures were recommended for them. There may be circumstances in which it is important for surgeons to tell patients about options they have ruled out in their particular cases. Decisions between alternative surgical procedures are often highly contingent on the dispositions and skills of individual surgeons. They raise practical and ethical issues that have been neglected in recent discussions about patient involvement in decision-making. As policy makers continue to emphasise the importance of choice and patients become increasingly aware of the existence of variant procedures, these issues need careful consideration.

Women's recollections of victimization, psychological problems, and substance use

AbstractIn this article, we describe types of physical and sexual abuse that women report and some consequences of these experiences in their lives. Research questions focused on types of abuse, the age at which abuse was experienced, and correlations between abuse and other outcomes. Data were collected from 2,729 participants in the Women, Co‐Occurring Disorders and Violence Study. Results showed that two thirds of participants described their sexual and/or physical abuse as beginning before age 18. Earlier onset was related to more severe current mental distress on the Brief Symptom Inventory. In general, reported age of onset for sexual and/or physical abuse was before onset of substance use. The implication for treatment of mental health disorders and substance use disorders is that interventions that account for abuse and its correlates may be more successful than interventions that do not assess for or attend to issues of abuse. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 33: 479–493, 2005.

Repeated self‐wounding: Women's recollection of pathways to cutting and of the value of different interventions

More information is needed on the processes that result in self-wounding and how these are modulated by the selection and delivery of interventions available to those working in non-specialist settings. Ten women participated in a semi-structured interview where they recalled their experiences of cutting and the helpfulness of specific interventions. Transcripts of these self-reports were analysed using grounded theory methods. Having a long-term relationship with a key worker and being encouraged to express feelings were viewed as the most helpful strategies, whereas relaxation was often reported as making self-injury worse. The helpfulness of a given intervention was reduced when delivered by someone perceived as underconcerned, overprotective or incompetent. Two pathways to self-wounding were identified: cutting may result when there is a steady increase of tension until a threshold is reached (the 'spring' path), or as a result of the 'switching on' of the impulse (the 'switch' path). Dissociation during cutting and a craving for cutting were more often associated with switching to the impulse. Different management strategies are called for when the switch path has developed, which appears particularly the case for individuals who have been repeatedly self-wounding over a substantial period of time.

Household water source and the risk of childhood brain tumours: results of the SEARCH International Brain Tumor Study

The period in utero is a time of increased vulnerability. Offspring of pregnant women exposed to carcinogenic substances in drinking water may be more likely to develop cancer. We examined whether household water source and the presence of nitrates or nitrites in residential water were associated with increased risks of childhood brain tumours (CBT). We used data from a multicentre, case-control study with maternal information on residential water source, and nitrate/nitrite levels of tap water measured by dipstick. Subjects included 836 CBT cases and 1485 controls from five countries. The risks of CBT associated with reliance on well water (versus public water) during pregnancy varied widely, with significantly increased risks noted in two (of seven) regions and a decreased risk observed in one region. CBT risk did not increase with increasing nitrate levels. However, our results based on tap water tested in the pregnancy residences suggest the risk of astrocytoma may be associated with increasing levels of nitrite (odds ratio [OR] = 4.3, 95% CI: 1.4, 12.6 for nitrite levels of 1-<5 mg/l nitrite ion; OR = 5.7, 95% CI: 1.2, 27.2 of nitrite > or =5 mg/l). These results should be interpreted with caution because women's recollection of water sources may have contained inaccuracies, and nitrate and nitrite measurements, available for only a portion of subjects, were often obtained years after the pregnancies occurred. However, our results suggest a need for closer evaluation of well water content in some regions and the possibility that a nitrite-related water exposure may be associated with CBT.

Adopted Homes for Yesterday's Children

In the absence of surviving casework, this article draws on the recollections of women who lived in a racially segregated orphanage in Oakland, California, during the Great Depression and World War II. The women, who were not orphans, came from white working-class families in need of emergency child care. After explaining the place of woman-run institutions in California's mixed economy of social welfare, the article draws on memories of the Children's Home to argue that physical settings made clear the intentions of orphanage founders but were invested with other meanings by children. Spatial evidence is used to direct attention to the ability of children to act on their own behalf. This evidence shows that, with Progressive reforms driving social changes, U.S. cities lost institutions that represented the needs of dependent children to a larger urban public when orphanages were closed down.

Experiencing Democracy: Women in Rural East Germany

This article discusses the experiences of rural women in East German), in light of the transformation front a socialist regime to a market-oriented democracy, Drawing on a study carried out in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania between 1996 and 1999, the article details women's positive recollections of local politics in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) and contrasts them with the problems women face with their integration into political structures in the new Germany. The conclusion is that today's lack of participation by women can be related to legacies from their socialist past as well as to narrow definitions of the political that offer few mechanisms and incentives for integrating rural women into local politics today.

Perception of risk for coronary heart disease in women undergoing coronary angiography

Background: Even though coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death among women in the United States, most women underestimate their risk of developing CHD. Design: Survey to examine the relationship between women's recollection of being told they were at risk for CHD and the presence of risk factors. Setting/Participants: A convenience sample of 450 women undergoing coronary angiography at 1 university hospital. Main Outcome Measures: Self-recollection of being told one was at risk for CHD and presence of CHD risk factors. Results: Most women (83.6%) had 3 or more risk factors, 12.2% had 1 or 2 risk factors, and 0.9% had no risk factors. Only 35% of women recalled being told that they were at risk for CHD. Few relationships were found between being told one was at risk for CHD and the presence of individual risk factors. No difference was found in the mean number of risk factors among women who did and did not recall being told they were at risk. In logistic regression analysis, only 5% of the variance in recollection of being told one was at risk was predicted, with only age, education, and having a high cholesterol level significantly contributing to the equation. Conclusions: Even though women may not remember conversations with their health care provider about CHD risk, the possibility that risk factors were not adequately assessed cannot be discounted. Patient-provider conversations about CHD risk factors should be encouraged as the first step toward successful risk reduction. (Heart Lung® 2002;31:246-52.)