Abstract
Summary: Raising children, while challenging in the best of times, can be more complicated for a woman who lost her own mother during her childhood/adolescent years. This study examines the long-term impact of maternal suicide as evident in the mothering experiences of 12 Israeli women. Findings: The participants’ descriptions reveal a constant Sisyphean struggle to move away from their legacy only to be pulled back—a fervent wish to be different from their mothers along with the simultaneous realization that they cannot escape their past. This continuing struggle is captured through four themes: (a) being a mother long before having children, (b) the past casting a pall over the present, (c) mothering as a means of fixing what is broken, and (d) the lack of a maternal model: an irrevocable absence. Applications: The results of this study are discussed from an emotional socialization perspective which points to the relevance of two theoretical perspectives: the modeling and the compensation views of emotional socialization in the participants’ mothering experiences. These views can help social workers both to understand and to attend to the distinctive difficulties of mothers who have survived the suicide of their own mothers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 548-577 |
| Number of pages | 30 |
| Journal | Journal of Social Work |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Sep 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© The Author(s) 2016.
Funding
The process of recruiting participants was long and difficult. We posted advertisements on two online forums where we clarified that the study was not funded or received financial support by any organization: The first was the site of The Israeli Organization of Suicide Prevention & Care for Suicide Survivors (‘‘Path-to-Life’’) and the second was that of the Israeli ‘‘Motherless Mothers’’ forum. We also took part in a conference held by the first above-named organization and were present at meetings of the latter. It was here that we introduced the study. These efforts resulted in the recruitment of six women. Additional participants were recruited by means of the snowball technique (n ¼ 4) and through personal connections (n ¼ 2) (Sandelowski, 1995). A summary of the participants’ demographics is presented in Table 1. All names are pseudonyms.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Israeli Organization of Suicide Prevention & Care for Suicide Survivors |
Keywords
- Social work
- bereavement
- grief and loss
- parenting
- qualitative research
- suicide
