Women's perceptions of change in relationships shared with children during pregnancy.

This study examined women's perceptions of changing relationships shared with children during pregnancy. Fourteen women were interviewed at approximately monthly intervals from the third through the last month of their pregnancies. During these interviews, each woman indicated whether or not she shared an important relationship with a child or children and, if such a relationship was identified, the woman (a) identified the role position of the child, (b) gave an overall evaluation of the relationship as satisfactory or unsatisfactory, (c) described the specific changes which had influenced the relationship in the month prior to the interview, and (d) evaluated each of these specific changes as either good or worrisome. Only the nine multiparas participating in the study identified children in important relationships. Almost exclusively, their sons and daughters were named in these relational dyads. No important relationships with children were identified by the five primiparous women. This finding suggests that the social space of the multipara and primipara differ significantly. The findings of this study reveal that complex and stressful mother-child interactional processes characterize the pregnancy period. Multiparas described relationships with their children as changing over the months of their pregnancies and these changes were seen to effect significant alterations in the dyads. The women explained that their younger children "knew something was different" early in the pregnancies and that the children reacted in a diffuse, clinging manner. Apparently, maternal action patterns became different during pregnancy and the children sensed and reacted to these differences. Older children responded both to their fears of displacement and to the sexual aspects of their mother's pregnancies. Findings indicate that women with children need much support from others in order to deal with the changes they perceive in their mother-child relationships during pregnancy. Mothers who are not supported by others cannot, in turn, help and support their children through a difficult reorganizational period.