The becoming mother experience in biological mothers and adoptive mothers

• Grant number: 19/27606-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2020
• End date: August 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Sabrina Mazo D'Affonseca
• Grantee: Mariana Casarotto
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Motherhood was for many years a requirement for women to have space within societies. This condition brings with it ambivalence since women had social recognition but need to renounce their personal desires and interests in the name of motherhood. Elements based on the feminist movement enable new perspectives on women's lives, as well as new possibilities for the experience of motherhood: adoption has become an option. Due to the different motivations and ways that lead a woman to become a mother, it is important to understand the psychological aspects involved in this phase of life of these women, lived more sharply in the first experience of motherhood. The aim of the study is to evaluate psychological variables of primary biological mothers and foster mothers during the first four months of living with their child, in order to identify similarities and differences in the process of becoming a mother. Based on a multiple case study design, two primary biological mothers and two foster mothers will be recruited, who started in the first four months of living with their child. The participants will reply to monthly semi-structured interviews and building a diary of experiences with visual elements, over four months; in addition to responding to a social support scale (EPSUS-A). The selected data will be qualitatively analyzed, based on thematic analysis, with the aid of Atlas. ti software. The experience of motherhood in social and psychological aspects is expected to be similar for primary biological mothers and foster mothers during the first four months, and differences are presented to the biological aspects of pregnancy. (AU)