Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Mothers' representations of caregiving and their adult children's representations of attachment: Intergenerational concordance and relations to beliefs about mothering.

Bengtsson, Hans LU and Psouni, Elia LU orcid (2008) In Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 49(3). p.247-257
Abstract
Mothers (N= 35) and their adult children completed questionnaires and were interviewed in order to examine relationships between mothers' caregiving representations and their adult children's attachment representations, and relationships between attachment/caregiving representations and beliefs about mothering. Mothers' and their children's accounts of and present thinking about their past relationship were highly similar, indicating that the two parts develop concordant states of mind regarding their relationship. In contrast, there was no relationship between mothers' and their adult children's beliefs about mothering, suggesting that such beliefs are not simply passed on from generation to generation within families.... (More)
Mothers (N= 35) and their adult children completed questionnaires and were interviewed in order to examine relationships between mothers' caregiving representations and their adult children's attachment representations, and relationships between attachment/caregiving representations and beliefs about mothering. Mothers' and their children's accounts of and present thinking about their past relationship were highly similar, indicating that the two parts develop concordant states of mind regarding their relationship. In contrast, there was no relationship between mothers' and their adult children's beliefs about mothering, suggesting that such beliefs are not simply passed on from generation to generation within families. Attachment/caregiving classification interacted with generation in influencing a belief that biological facts determine maternal behavior, young adults with preoccupied attachment being particularly prone to reject this idea. Attachment/caregiving classification also had a significant effect on participants' tendency to adhere to an idealized conception of mothering, this tendency being associated with a dismissive attachment/caregiving representation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Caregivers, parent-child relations, adult atttachment, parental beliefs, matherhood, tarnsgenerational patterns
in
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology
volume
49
issue
3
pages
247 - 257
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000255062000006
  • pmid:18419590
  • scopus:42449154728
  • pmid:18419590
ISSN
1467-9450
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00624.x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1d618f59-b533-49d8-adb0-429b3b2d51fd (old id 1147290)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18419590?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:21:54
date last changed
2024-01-09 12:28:37
@article{1d618f59-b533-49d8-adb0-429b3b2d51fd,
  abstract     = {{Mothers (N= 35) and their adult children completed questionnaires and were interviewed in order to examine relationships between mothers' caregiving representations and their adult children's attachment representations, and relationships between attachment/caregiving representations and beliefs about mothering. Mothers' and their children's accounts of and present thinking about their past relationship were highly similar, indicating that the two parts develop concordant states of mind regarding their relationship. In contrast, there was no relationship between mothers' and their adult children's beliefs about mothering, suggesting that such beliefs are not simply passed on from generation to generation within families. Attachment/caregiving classification interacted with generation in influencing a belief that biological facts determine maternal behavior, young adults with preoccupied attachment being particularly prone to reject this idea. Attachment/caregiving classification also had a significant effect on participants' tendency to adhere to an idealized conception of mothering, this tendency being associated with a dismissive attachment/caregiving representation.}},
  author       = {{Bengtsson, Hans and Psouni, Elia}},
  issn         = {{1467-9450}},
  keywords     = {{Caregivers; parent-child relations; adult atttachment; parental beliefs; matherhood; tarnsgenerational patterns}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{247--257}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Scandinavian Journal of Psychology}},
  title        = {{Mothers' representations of caregiving and their adult children's representations of attachment: Intergenerational concordance and relations to beliefs about mothering.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00624.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00624.x}},
  volume       = {{49}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}