“I try not to let my kids see it”: Mothering and emotion management

Objective

This study aims to understand how a diverse group of mothers with limited incomes approach managing their emotions. Participating mothers were predominantly women of color.

Background

Previous research suggested that, on average, inadequate resources negatively shape parenting practices and subsequent child outcomes. The family stress model linked limited resources with increased stress in parents, a mental state that may undermine parenting efforts. However, this does not consider mothers' work to manage their own emotions, including feelings of stress, which prior research has found could potentially promote their own well-being and positive engagement with children.

Methods

The present study uses data from 26 of 71 semi-structured interviews from the Baby's First Years: Mother's Voices study. The researchers used thematic analysis to analyze mothers' narratives of their emotion management efforts and the mothers' values guiding such efforts.

Results

Mothers' approaches to managing their emotions were primarily shaped by their sense of what it meant to be a good mother, but these ideas about good mothering manifested differently in practice. Some mothers sought to repress emotions while parenting, others to separate from children during emotion management efforts, and some connected with children to manage mothers' own emotions.

Conclusion

The stress of limited financial resources does not automatically translate into mothers' parenting. Mothers with limited incomes hold their own ideas about good mothering that are related to how resource limitations influence their parenting efforts.

Implications

Understanding the motivations of mothers with limited incomes for managing their own emotions can provide insights for practitioners and policymakers hoping to support mothers' emotion management efforts.