Abstract
This study uses dialectical theory to explore the interaction of worker identity (perceived financial need and job/career identity) and intensive mothering expectations in mothers’ identity construction. This study is based on extensive interviews with 98 at-home, part-time employed and full-time employed mothers of one or more pre-school children from the Midwestern United States. The narrative analysis reveals that mothers embrace intensive mothering expectations. Because of these cultural expectations, mothers must modify either societal mothering expectations or worker expectations in order to construct an integrated worker–mother identity. We found that while at-home mothers can embrace intensive mothering expectations, employed mothers engage in cognitive acrobatics to manage the tension between employment and the dominant mothering ideology.
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Deirdre D. Johnston is Professor of Communication and Debra H. Swanson is Professor of Sociology at Hope College. This research was funded by grants from Hope College Frost Center for Social Science Research and the Ruth M. Peale faculty development fund.
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Appendix A
Appendix B
Interview Questions
Questions assessing job/career identity included: “How difficult was it to make your decision to be a [FTEM/PTEM/AHM]?” “What are three words that describe you?” “What three accomplishments are you most proud of?” “How do you define success (for you personally)?” and “Has having children changed your job/career goals?”
Questions exploring financial determinants of employment decision included: “What factors influenced your decision to be a [FTEM/PTEM/AHM]?” “What is the greatest tension in your family?” “How many hours per week does your husband work?” For the purpose of this study, worker identity will be considered strong if either perceived financial need or job/career fulfillment are high.
Questions that explored intensive mothering expectations included: “Do you ever feel that you’re missing out on anything by being a [FTEM/PTEM/AHM] mother?” “What are the benefits to your child of your work status decision?” “How do you define the ideal ‘good mother’?” “In what ways are you a ‘good mother’?” and “In what ways could you be a better mother?”
Questions that explored how mothers constructed the integration of their worker and mother identities through selection, separation, neutralization or reframing included: “Do you ever feel any pressure to be [insert opposite work status: FTEM/PTEM/AHM]?” “What are the benefits for you being a [FTEM/PTEM/AHM]?” “What are the stresses for you being a [FTEM/PTEM/AHM]?” “Do you feel a competing tension between your desires to be a good mother and making contributions outside of the home?” and “How do you integrate or separate your child responsibilities and your household, community, or employment responsibilities?”
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Johnston, D.D., Swanson, D.H. Cognitive Acrobatics in the Construction of Worker–mother Identity. Sex Roles 57, 447–459 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9267-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9267-4