Lee, Kang Qi, Barlas, Joanna, and Gill, Davinder (2025) Learning to thrive through autonomy: a thematic analysis of the role of recalled parental autonomy in the transition to motherhood. Current Psychology. (In Press)

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Abstract

Becoming a mother requires the continual redefinition of current self-identity. This can be challenging for women who struggle being autonomous due to unfulfilled core emotional needs from early interactions with primary caregivers. Existing literature on the impact of early experiences on motherhood is largely quantitative and focuses on adverse childhood experiences and broad parenting constructs. Informed by the findings of our quantitative study (Leong et al., 2024), this secondary predominately qualitative study explored primiparous mothers’ perceptions of both adverse and positive experiences of parental autonomy, and how they draw upon those experiences in early motherhood. The sample comprised 15 first-time mothers in their first-year post-birth, aged 18–36, recruited in Singapore from a large mixed-method study which examined the impact of early experiences of being parented on postnatal mental health. Referencing specific interactions on the Positive Parenting Schema Inventory (PPSI; Louis et al., 2020a) and the Young Parenting Inventory Revised (YPI-R2; Louis et al., 2018), semi-structured interviews were conducted with the mothers on their perceptions of parental autonomy and how those experiences impacted their parenting style, sense of competence and postnatal mental health. Interview transcripts were analysed drawing upon guidelines and principles of reflexive thematic analysis. Three broad themes were generated; (i) making sense of autonomy; (ii) learning to thrive through autonomy; and (iii) striving for balance through autonomy. The findings highlight the instrumental role of parental autonomy and culture in the transition to motherhood and inform the design and implementation of postnatal mental health services, parenting programmes and future research.

Item ID:	84641
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1936-4733
Keywords:	parental autonomy; schema therapy; transition to motherhood; reflexive thematic analysis
Copyright Information:	© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Date Deposited:	17 Feb 2025 23:00
FoR Codes:	52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5203 Clinical and health psychology > 520302 Clinical psychology @ 50% 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5201 Applied and developmental psychology > 520101 Child and adolescent development @ 50%
SEO Codes:	20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200409 Mental health @ 50% 20 HEALTH > 2005 Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health) > 200509 Women's and maternal health @ 50%
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