ABSTRACT
This qualitative study illuminates the experience of mothers exposed to the intimate partner violence (IPV) of their daughters. In-depth interviews with 11 exposed mothers were conducted. The findings reveal four semi-chronological phases in the participants' experiences: pre-disclosure of the daughter's abuse, the first definitive encounter with the daughter's abuse, living with continued exposure to the daughter's IPV, and the aftermath of the daughter's IPV. A recurrent theme in the mothers' experiences was their dual positioning as a forgotten victim of IPV and as a caregiver of their daughter shaped by prevalent motherhood ideologies. Possible implications for intervention are discussed.
Subject(s)
Interpersonal Relations , Intimate Partner Violence/psychology , Mothers/psychology , Sexual Partners/psychology , Adult , Aged , Crime Victims/psychology , Disclosure , Female , Humans , Israel , Middle Aged , Nuclear Family/psychology , Qualitative ResearchABSTRACT
Mothers of children who suffer various problems tend to discuss their experience as a crisis in their maternal identity, regardless of whether the children are young or adults. However, the maternal identity of mothers who are aware that their adult daughters are being abused has not yet been explored. This study aims to examine the construction of the maternal identity by Israeli women whose grown daughters have been subjected to intimate partner violence (IPV), in the light of cultural representations of motherhood and domestic violence (DV). Thematic discourse analysis of in-depth interviews with 11 mothers identified discursive strategies that they used to negotiate a troubled maternal identity following their daughters' IPV experience. The mothers asserted a positive maternal identity by referring to common discourses about DV and motherhood, in a bid to bolster their "good mother" identity, to reframe motherhood, and to assign responsibility for the abuse to the abuser, to their daughters, or to the patriarchal social structure. The implications of these findings for motherhood and maternal identity theories and for professionals working in the field of DV are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
