Abstract

Parenting competency among women with mental illness is a priority because maternal mental illness may pose difficulty in parenting and is associated with potentially adverse outcomes in children. (Weissman, Warner, Wickrmaratne, Moreau, & Olfson, 1997). Sense of belonging (SOB) (Hagerty, Lynch-Sauer, Patusky, Bouwsema, & Collier, 1992) is pertinent to the maternal-child relationship and possibly plays a role in parenting competency. This descriptive correlational study explored the relationship of sense of belonging and parenting competency in a sample of mothers. Research questions addressed descriptive and correlational data regarding the study variables, as well as possible moderating or mediating effects of sense of belonging on parenting competency. A sample of 155 mothers, 69 with mental illness and 86 without mental illness, were recruited from community and outpatient treatment settings. Survey packets contained (1) the Parental Attitudes Toward Childrearing Scale (PACR) (Easterbrooks & Goldberg, 1986), measuring warmth, encouragement of independence, strictness, and aggravation; (2) the Sense of Belonging Instrument, measuring psychological experience (SOBI-P) of sense of belonging, and antecedents (SOBI-A) of sense of belonging (Hagerty & Patusky, 1995); and (3) a demographic questionnaire. Descriptive results indicated that mothers with mental illness differed significantly from mothers without mental illness in their sense of belonging, reporting lower scores on both the psychological experience and antecedents subscales. On parenting competency, mothers with mental illness scored significantly lower on encouragement of independence and higher on aggravation than mothers without mental illness. Correlational analysis indicated that parenting competencies of warmth and encouragement of independence were significantly positively related both to the psychological experience of sense of belonging, and to the antecedents of sense of belonging; strictness and aggravation were significantly negatively correlated with both SOBI scales. Although mothers with mental illness reported significantly higher levels of aggravation, the difference from mothers without mental illness disappeared under the influence of sense of belonging, indicating that sense of belonging mediates the relationship of mental illness and aggravation. Relationships of ancillary data were also examined. Implications of the study are the need for closer study of parenting competency in mothers with mental illness, and factors that impinge on childrearing.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3100788; ProQuest document ID: 305313341. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Janet Salerno D'Arcangelo, PhD, APRN, CS

Sigma Membership

Upsilon

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Descriptive/Correlational

Research Approach

Quantitative Research

Keywords:

Women with Mental Illness, Caretaking with Mental Illness, Mentally Ill Mothers

Advisors

Sherman, Deborah Witt

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

New York University

Degree Year

2003

Rights Holder

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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2020-06-12

Full Text of Presentation

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