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Adult developmental transitions in infertile women
Abstract
This study examined the experience of infertile women using a conceptual framework of developmental change that has been traditionally linked to pregnancy and first-time motherhood. In the literature, it has been observed that there is a reconciliative trend in a woman's object relationship with her mother over the course of a first pregnancy, and unconscious conflicts regarding identification with and separation from a woman's mother are powerfully reawakened during this time. It has generally been assumed that the experience of pregnancy and having a baby is the catalyst for these changes. The central question posed by this study was how infertile women negotiate these developmental issues. In-depth interviews were conducted with a small sample of infertile women. The results are presented in terms of how the women described their experience and how their experience related to the broader developmental issues regarding maternal identification and separation. The women's experience of infertility is divided into four themes: the all encompassing nature of the experience, issues of control, images of abnormality, and the wish to talk about the experience. Themes relating to issues of identification and separation are discussed in terms of: the women's wish to join a society of women and the world of their mothers, the wish to repair past hurts from childhood and the resurfacing of emotional conflict, and changes in the women's perceptions of their relationships with their mothers over the course of dealing with infertility. The experience of the women in this study suggested that, similar to the literature on first pregnancies, infertile women are actively reworking issues of identification and separation; however, whereas first-time mothers strengthen identifications with their mothers as nurturant, infertile women strengthen identifications with their mothers as competent, multidimensional, and able to withstand adversity. The women in this study were very conscious of mortality and limits, and it is suggested that coming to terms with infertility may involve the simultaneous negotiation of the psychological work traditionally associated with mid-life and the psychological work involved in the transition to motherhood.
Subject Area
Clinical psychology|Womens studies
Recommended Citation
Foster, Lael Elizabeth, "Adult developmental transitions in infertile women" (1991). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9207399.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9207399