Scars women carry

Women who have unresolved conflict with their own parents are more likely to struggle with the transition to motherhood, a new study shows.
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The research, conducted at the University of Haifa in Israel, examined 160 women’s expectations about motherhood while they were still in the last trimester of their first pregnancy.
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The study suggested that women who felt their childhood relationships with their parents were characterized by “rejection and unresolved conflicts” were likely to view children as more demanding compared to women with happier childhoods.
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Women with childhood conflict also may become stricter parents.
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Women who clashed with their parents were also more likely to indicate they would set a lot boundaries for their children than other women in the study.
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Women with happy childhoods were the most optimistic about parenthood, according to the research, which was the result of a dissertation and is likely to be published in the near future.
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They expected to feel a low level of separation anxiety from their child and thought childrearing would be easy and that their relationship would be characterized by warmth, say the study researchers.
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The research is based on a relatively small sample and select group of women, so the results may not apply to every woman.
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However, it does suggest that paying attention to a pregnant woman’s thoughts and perceptions about parenting may help identify women at highest risk for adjustment problems once the baby arrives.
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Such an evaluation will enable early identification of women who are concerned they will have difficulty contending with parental roles and offer them tools that will help them adapt better to the transition to motherhood,” the researchers note
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Tara Parker-Pope - NYT