Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T10:32:39.570Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Maternal Representations of Parenting in Adolescence and Psychosocial Functioning of Mothers and Adolescents

from Part Two - Research Applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

By
Ofra Mayseless  and
Miri Scharf
Edited by
Ofra Mayseless
Ofra Mayseless
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Israel
Miri Scharf
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Israel
Ofra Mayseless
Affiliation:
University of Haifa, Israel
Get access

Summary

Abstract

The notion of caregiving representations was applied to assess parenting representations of mothers of adolescent sons. The association between these representations and the mothers' state of mind with respect to attachment was examined. In addition, mothers' parenting representations were examined as predictive of the coping of the sons with the developmental tasks of leaving home and individuation. Eighty-two mothers of male adolescents from middle-class intact families were administered the Parenting Representations Interview-Adolescence (PRI–A) approximately a year prior to the son's conscription to mandatory military service. The coping and adaptation to the basic training period as well as levels of individuation three years later were assessed. Mothers' parenting representations were moderately associated with their own AAI categorizations. Mothers' parenting representations were further predictive of the psychosocial developmental accomplishments of their sons. These findings attest to the significance of the mothers' parenting representations in affecting the sons' experiences as part of their developmental trajectory.

Within the paradigm of attachment theory, the interest in parents' caregiving system, namely their motivational system to give care and protection, started to rise a decade ago (George & Solomon, 1989, 1996; Bretherton et al., 1989). This interest was reflected in the study of parents' internal world, their beliefs, emotions and affects, that is, their parenting representations. Several researchers in different laboratories have suggested various ways of assessing parenting representations.

Type
Chapter
Information
Parenting Representations
Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications
 , pp. 208 - 238
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aber, J. L., Belsky, J., Slade, A., & Crnic, K. (1999). Stability and change in mothers' representations of their relationship with their toddlers. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1038–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Allen, J. P. & Land, D. (1999). Attachment in adolescence. In Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P. R. (Eds.), Handbook of Attachment Theory and Research. New York: Guilford Press, pp. 319–35.Google Scholar
Allen, J. P., McElhaney, K. B., Land, D. J., Kuperminc, G. P., Moore, C. W., O'Beirne, K. H., & Kilmer, S. L. (2003). A secure base in adolescence: Markers of attachment security in the mother-adolescent relationship. Child Development, 74, 292–307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Allen, J. P., Moore, C., & Kuperminc, G. P. (1997). Developmental approaches to understanding adolescent deviance. In Luthar, S. S., Burack, J. A., Cichetti, D., & Weisz, J. (Eds.), Developmental Psychopathology: Perspectives on Adjustment, Risk, and Disorder. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 548–67.Google Scholar
Arnett, J. J. (2001). Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood a Cultural Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Benoit, D., Zeanah, C. H., Parker, K. C. H., Nicholson, E., & Coolbear, J. (1997). “Working Model of the Child Interview”: Infant clinical status related to maternal perceptions. Infant Mental Health Journal, 18, 107–21.3.0.CO;2-N>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blos, P. (1967). The second individuation process of adolescence. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 22, 162–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blos, P. (1979). The Adolescent Passage. New York: International University Press.Google Scholar
Bornstein, M. H., Haynes, O. M., Azuma, H., Galpern, C., Maital, S., Ogino, M., Painter, K., Pascual, K., Pɿcheux, M. G., Rahn, C., Toda, S., Venuti, P., Vyt, A., & Wright, B. A. (1998). Cross-national study of self-evaluations and attributions in parenting: Argentina, Belgium, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, and the United States. Developmental Psychology, 34, 662–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and Loss: Volume 2, Separation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I., Biringen, Z., Ridgeway, D., Maslin, C., & Sherman, M. (1989). Attachment: The parental perspective. Infant Mental Health Journal, 10(3), 203–21.3.0.CO;2-8>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Catz, M. & Orbach, D. (1990). Conscription of Youth from Special Backgrounds. Tel Aviv, Israel: Israeli Defense Forces, Psychological Research Division.Google Scholar
Coleman, P. K. & Karraker, K. H. (1998). Self-efficacy and parenting quality: Findings and future applications. Developmental Review, 18, 47–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, A. & Sroufe, A. (1999). Capacity for intimate relationships: A developmental construction. In Furman, W., Brown, B. B., & Feiring, C. (Eds.), The Development of Romantic Relationships in Adolescence. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 125–48.Google Scholar
Dar, Y. & Resh, N. (1991). Socioeconomic and ethnic gaps in academic achievement in Israel junior high school. In Bleichrodt, N. and Drenth, P. J. D. (Eds.), Contemporary Issues in Cross-cultural Psychology. Berwyn, PA: Swets & Zeitlinger, pp. 322–33.Google Scholar
Wolff, M. & IJzendoorn, M. H. (1997). Sensitivity and attachment: A meta-analysis non parental antecedents of infant attachment. Child Development, 68, 571–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Florian, V. & Drory, Y. (1990). Mental Health Inventory (MHI) – Psychometric properties and normative data in the Israeli population. Psychologia: Israel Journal of Psychology, 2(1), 26–35.Google Scholar
Folkman, S. & Lazarus, R. S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21, 219–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folkman, S. & Lazarus, R. S. (1985). If it changes, it must be a process: Study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 150–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fonagy, P., Steele, M., Steele, H., & Target, M. (1997). Reflective-functioning Manual, Version 4.1. Unpublished manuscript. Psychoanalysis Unit, University College London.Google Scholar
Furman, W., Brown, B. B., & Feiring, C. (Eds.). (1999). The Development of Romantic Relationships in Adolescence. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garbarino, J., Gaa, J. P., & Gratch, L. V. (1995). The relation of individuation and psychosocial development. Journal of Family Psychology, 9, 311–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, C. & Solomon, J. (l989). Internal working models of caregiving and security of attachment at age six. Infant Mental Health Journal, 10, 222–37.3.0.CO;2-6>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, C. & Solomon, J. (1996). Representational models of relationships: Links between caregiving and attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 17, 198–216.3.0.CO;2-L>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, C. & Solomon, J. (1999). The development of caregiving: A comparison of attachment theory and psychoanalytic approaches to mothering. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 19, 618–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, S., Grusec, J. E., & Jenkins, J. M. (1999). Confidence in protection: Arguments for a narrow definition of attachment. Journal of Family Psychology, 13(4), 475–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldscheider, F. & Davanzo, J. (1986). Semiautonomy and leaving home during early adulthood. Social Forces, 65, 187–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Petersen, A. C. (Eds.). (1996). Transitions Through Adolescence: Interpersonal Domains and Context. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gray, M. R. & Steinberg, L. (1999). Unpacking authoritative parenting: Reassessing a multidimensional construct. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 574–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberger, E. & Sorensen, A. B. (1974). Toward a concept of psychosocial maturity. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 3, 329–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haber, J. (1990). The Haber Differentiation of Self scale. In Waltz, C. & Strickland, O. (Eds.), The Measure of Nursing Outcomes. Measuring Client Self-care and Coping Skills. New York: Springer, pp. 320–1.Google Scholar
Haber, J. (1993). A construct validity study of a differentiation of self scale. Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice, 7, 165–78.Google ScholarPubMed
Hill, J. P. & Holmbeck, G. (1986). Attachment and autonomy during adolescence. In Whitehurst, G. (Ed.), Annals of Child Development. Greenwich, CT: JAI, pp. 145–89.Google Scholar
Holmbeck, G. N., Paikoff, R. L., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1995). Parenting adolescents. In Bornstein, M. H. (Ed.), Handbook of Parenting. Vol. 1: Children and Parenting. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 91–118.Google Scholar
Huth-Bocks, A. C., Levendosky, A. A., Bogat, G. A., & Eye, A. (2004). The impact of maternal characteristics and contextual variables on infant-mother attachment. Child Development, 75, 480–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenny, M. E. & Donaldson, G. A. (1991). Contributions of parental attachment and family structure to the social and psychological functioning of first-year college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 38, 479–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kobak, R. & Cole, H. (1994). Attachment and meta-monitoring: Implications for adolescent autonomy and psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D. & Toth, S. L. (Eds.), Rochestersymposium on Developmental Psychopathology. Vol. 5: Disorders and Dysfunctions of the Self. New York: University of Rochester Press, pp. 267–97.Google Scholar
Lapsley, D. K., Rice, K. G., & FitzGerald, D. P. (1990). Adolescent attachment, identity, and adjustment to college: Implications for the continuity of adaptation hypothesis. Journal of Counseling and Development, 68, 561–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, J. B., Green, C. J., & Millon, T. (1986). The Separation-Individuation Test of Adolescence. Journal of Personality Assessment, 50, 123–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levine, J. B. & Saintonge, S. (1993). Psychometric properties of the Separation-Individuation Test of Adolescence. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 49, 492–507.3.0.CO;2-U>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Main, M. & Goldwyn, R. (1998). Adult Attachment Scoring and Classification Systems, Version 6.3. Unpublished manual, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Mazor, A., Alfa, A., & Gampel, Y. (1993). On the thin blue line between connection and separation: The individuation process, from cognitive and object-relations perspectives, in kibbutz adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 22, 641–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayseless, O., Scharf, M., Kivenson Baron, I., & Schnarch, R. (2005). Mothers' attachment and caregiving representations and their adolescent sons' functioning and state of mind with regard to attachment. Unpublished manuscript, University of Haifa.
Mikulincer, M. & Florian, V. (1995). Appraisal of and coping with a real-life stressful situation: The contribution of attachment styles. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 406–14.CrossRef
Moore, D. (1987). Parent-adolescent separation: The construction of adulthood by late adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 23, 298–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pianta, R. C., Marvin, R. S., Britner, P. A., & Borowitz, K. C. (1996). Mothers' resolution of their childrens' diagnosis: Organized patterns of caregiving representations. Special issue: The caregiving system. Infant Mental Health Journal, 17(3), 239–56.3.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, K. G. & Mulkeen, P. (1995). Relationships with parents and peers: A longitudinal study of adolescent intimacy. Journal of Adolescent Research, 10, 338–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scharf, M. & Mayseless, O. (1997/2000). Parenting Representations Interview–Adolescence (PRI–A). Unpublished manuscript, University of Haifa.
Scharf, M., Mayseless, O., & Kivenson-Baron, I. (1997/2000). Coding Manual of the Parenting Representations Interview–Adolescence (PRI–A). Unpublished manuscript, University of Haifa.Google Scholar
Scharf, M., Mayseless, O., & Kivenson-Baron, I. (2004). Adolescents' attachment representations and developmental tasks in emerging adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 40, 430–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schultheiss, D. P. & Blustein, D. L. (1994). The role of adolescent-parent relationships in college student development and adjustment. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 41, 248–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slade, A., Belsky, J., Aber, L., & Phelps, J. (1999). Maternal representations of their relationship with their toddlers: Links to adult attachment and observed mothering. Developmental Psychology, 35, 611–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, J. & George, C. (1999). The caregiving system in mothers of infants: A comparison of divorcing and married mothers. Attachment and Human Development, 1, 171–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Statistical abstract of Israel. (1996). Jerusalem: The Government of Israel, Central Bureau of Statistics.
Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things: Parent-adolescent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinberg, L. & Silk, J. (2002). Parenting adolescents. In Bornstein, M. (Ed.), Handbook of Parenting: Vol. 1: Children and Parenting. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 103–33.Google Scholar
Steinberg, L. & Steinberg, W. (1994). Crossing Paths: How Your Child's Adolescence Triggers Your Own Crisis. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Sullivan, H. S. (1953). The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Veit, C. & Ware, J. (1983). The structure of psychological distress and well-being in general populations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 730–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westen, D., Lohr, N. E., Silk, K. R., Gold, L., & Kerber, K. (1990). Object relations and social cognition in borderlines, major depressives, and normals: A Thematic Apperception Test analysis. Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2, 355–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeanah, C. H. & Benoit, D. (1995). Clinical applications of a parent perception interview in infant mental health. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 4, 539–54.Google Scholar
Zeanah, C. H., Benoit, D., Hirshberg, L., Barton, M. L., & Regan, C. (1994). Mothers' representations of their infants are concordant with infant attachment classifications. Developmental Issues in Psychiatry and Psychology, 1, 1–14.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×