Eija Sevón

Timing Motherhood: Experiencing and Narrating the Choice to Become a Mother

The decision to become a mother is a multilayered process that is not wholly rational, clear-cut, or conscious. The aim of this study is to present four different stories about the choice of becoming a mother collected from pregnant women living in heterosexual relationships. The women’s stories are explored through the desires and ambivalences of embodied, relational and emotional female subjects. Crucial to the choice of becoming a mother are: first, the timing of motherhood, which is attached to social and cultural narratives concerning ‘good’ mothering and a ‘reasonable’ female life course; second, the ambivalences encountered in choosing to become a mother; and, third, the link between the heterosexual relationship and its quality and the choice of becoming a mother.

'My life has changed, but his life hasn't': Making sense of the gendering of parenthood during the transition to motherhood

A narrative approach to the study of the gendered nature of parenting acknowledges that different kinds of cultural narratives surround the couple relationship and parenting. This narrative study illustrates the process of the gendering of parenthood from the points of view of seven Finnish first-time mothers. The data were obtained from 28 in-depth longitudinal interviews. Two main narratives were found: a turbulent transformation and a smooth transformation narrative. The turbulent transformation narrative demonstrates how the transition to parenthood may lead to biographical disruption in first-time mothers’ lives. The contradictory cultural narratives of intensive mothering and shared parenthood created ambivalence in the women’s identifications with motherhood and negotiation of parenthood with their partner. For these women, traditional, gendered narratives supported narrative reorientation and the construction of a coherent identity as a mother and as a partner for the women. The smooth transformation narrative, in turn, showed that willingness and effort are required from both parties of the couple in order to depart from intensive mothering and to achieve shared parenting.

Narrating Ambivalence of Maternal Responsibility

Early motherhood and caring for the infant involve a moral ambiguity that is related to the questions of responsibility and vulnerability. By means of the ethics of care, motherhood can be understood as belonging to the moral domain, as relational, and as linked with everyday social situations. The culturally dominant narratives of ‘good mothering’ easily naturalise and normatise maternal agency. This study illustrates the process of adopting responsibility for the infant and the moral ambivalence that is inscribed in early maternal care. The data consist of four interview sessions with each of seven first-time mothers conducted during pregnancy and the first post-natal year. The interviews concentrated on events, relationships, routines, thoughts and feelings related to the mothers’ daily caring for the baby. The women talked about their experiences drawing on two different narratives. The narrative of desirable responsibility unfolded the positive aspects of caring and responsibility for the baby. By means of this narrative, the women were able to give coherence to their lives as new mothers and to narrate the pleasure they felt in taking responsibility for their baby. In contrast, the narrative of maternal vulnerability showed the shadow side of maternal care focusing on the mothers’ tiredness and distress. This narrative embodied ‘moral monitoring’ and ‘epistemological struggles’ between the dominant cultural narratives and the mothers’ personal narratives. The study shows that early mothering is morally laden in two different ways simultaneously. Mothering itself is a moral disposition and practice characterised by ambivalence. The cultural narratives of ‘good mothering’ play a dual role in this process: they tempt women into pursuing intensive mothering, but at the same time they create an elusive moral imperative.

Daily wellbeing in families with children: A harmonious and a disharmonious week

Abstract What makes daily life in families with young children harmonious, and are there better and worse times? Applying a daily approach, the present study examined one week in dual-earner families with young children, with special focus on families that reported either a harmonious or a disharmonious week in their family interaction. Quantitative and qualitative diary data were collected with mobile phones and with paper and pencil from 45 families. Fourteen families representing either disharmonious or harmonious interaction were chosen for a detailed analysis of good and difficult moments in the spousal and parent–child relationship. What most clearly distinguished these weeks was not the characteristics of good and difficult moments, but the frequency of these moments.

Good moments in parents' spousal relationships: A daily relational maintenance perspective

This study examined positively experienced spousal moments among couples with young children. The diary data were gathered from 95 women and 55 men in 95 Finnish families over a seven-day period using an open-ended question. Seven kinds of activities were identified in the descriptions of moments: doings, conversations, presence, positivity, physical intimacy, support, and conflict management. Doings related to shared tasks and favors as well as conversations concerning catching up and family issues were more often mentioned by women than by men. Notably, positive spousal moments also often included children who were described as a landscape for the spousal relationship, as participants in family life, and as a shared responsibility. The results are discussed in the context of the relational maintenance literature.

Mothers’ non-standard working and childcare-related challenges: A comparison between lone and coupled mothers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to particularly focus on lone-mother families, comparing the childcare-related challenges experienced by working lone mothers and coupled mothers in three European countries in the context of a 24/7 economy and non-standard working hours (e.g. evening, night and weekend work). Design/methodology/approach – This study utilises survey data from Finnish, Dutch and British working mothers (n=1,106) collected as part of the “Families 24/7” research project. Multivariate regression analysis is used to analyse the associations between childcare-related challenges, maternal non-standard working, lone motherhood and country of residence. Findings – The results indicated similar results across the three countries by showing that working lone mothers experience childcare-related challenges more often compared with coupled mothers. Furthermore, an increase in maternal non-standard working associated positively with increased childcare-related challenges in both lone mother and c...

Young children in day and night care : negotiating and constructing belonging during daily arrivals

ABSTRACT The paper aims at understanding the processes related to young childrens belonging during daily arrivals at day and night care. Two aspects of a childs belonging are considered: membership and sense of belonging. Data were gathered by ethnographic observation of 8 children aged from 20 to 36 months in two Finnish day care centres offering day and night care. Arrival episodes taking place at different times of day were analysed qualitatively based on the childrens actions and expressions. During these episodes, the children negotiated and constructed their belonging by interacting with adults, peers and material objects. These interactions took place within varying social and material surroundings and according to different daily routines that sometimes challenged the childs belonging. The results underline the importance of sensitive responsiveness by educators to young childrens initiatives in supporting childrens belonging during daily arrivals at day and night care.

An examination of nonresponse in a study on daily family life : I do not have time to participate, but I can tell you something about our life

The aim of this study was to look at the issue of nonresponse and self-selection bias in the context of a family study on daily family life. Data on the participating families and refusers were gathered as part of the wider Palette study in which questionnaires and diaries were used as data collection methods. On the basis of these data (N = 208 participating families and 119 refuser families), we profile the families left outside the study. The parents who declined to participate in the Palette study were asked to fill in a short refusal form, which included questions concerning their family background and reasons for refusal, and they were also asked to write freely about their everyday life. We found the refuser families to have less-educated mothers and more children than the participating families. On the basis of a qualitative analysis, three life situations which refusers considered too demanding to allow participation in the study were found. The challenges of reaching nonparticipants and the generalizability of the findings are discussed.

Daily rhythms of young children in the 24/7 economy: A comparison of children in day care and day and night care

The study explored temporal variation in children’s moods and compared children in regular day care with those in day and night care in Finland. To examine variation in children’s experiences, a mobile diary was used. The participants comprised 32 young children and their parents and day care personnel. Adults evaluated children’s moods three times daily over 1 week. A clear weekday–weekend rhythm was found among children in day care, who displayed more negative moods, due to frequent hurried mornings. Children in day and night care had more irregular mood rhythms. Boys were evaluated as displaying more negative moods than girls.

Problematic Woman-to-Woman Family Relations

Family research has mostly concentrated on relationships between parents and children or between women and men. On the other hand, feminist studies have explained problems within woman-to-woman relationships deriving from patriarchy. This article focuses on problematic adult woman-to-woman family relationships. More specifically, it discusses two womens ambivalent emotions narrated and experienced in their problematic female family relationships. The authors suggest that feminist studies should take into account culturally dominant narratives interlinking female subjectivity and responsibility over the private sphere. Ambivalence arises in situations where individuals encounter contradictorily structured power hierarchies, i.e. simultaneously trying to follow the (traditional) rules of kinship order and the desire for agency.