Expertise in motherhood: a grounded theory study on motherhood during middle childhood
Abstract
The transition to motherhood is a developmental stage in which a woman's identity reveals its transformation into her maternal identity. Motherhood goes through certain stages based on the child's age. Motherhood during middle childhood differs from other periods in terms of experiences, meanings, practices, and the child's needs (Barnard & Solchany, 2002). The current study focuses on exploring mothers’ personal experiences of motherhood through a grounded theory framework in order to conceptualize motherhood in middle childhood. The sample was consisting of 22 mothers of children. As a result, the concept of expertise in motherhood (EIM) was obtained, which explains the maternal experiences of mothers with children in middle childhood. EIM is explained through six themes: EIM, pre-motherhood, motherhood enhancers, expertise in child-rearing, child-centered communication, and the transformative power of motherhood. The research results are discussed in light of the relevant literature on motherhood, maternal self-concept, and maternal role development.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Maternal subjectivity is dynamic over time.
“The concept recognises that motherhood is far from being a one-size-fits-all experience, and that each mother possesses her own set of emotions, thoughts and identity in the journey of parenthood, which is, importantly, dynamic over time (5–12).”
Cites
The Discovery of Grounded Theory; Strategies for Qualitative Research
Glaser, B. G., Strauss, A. L., & Strutzel, E. (1968) · Nursing Research · doi:10.1097/00006199-196807000-00014 · Cited by 39,449 · see citing works
Potential roles of parental self-efficacy in parent and child adjustment: A review
Jones, T. L., & Prinz, R. J. (2005) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2004.12.004 · Cited by 1,743 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…maternal cognitions (responsibility, control of outcomes, and mastery motivation) to be the components of maternal efficacy beliefs (Meunier & Roskam, 2009), with self-perceived efficacious parents being seen to maintain their mastery motivation even in challenging situations (Jones & Prinz, 2005).”
BackgroundA Model of Mindful Parenting: Implications for Parent–Child Relationships and Prevention Research
Duncan, L. G., Coatsworth, J. D., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-009-0046-3 · Cited by 934 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…to the child with regard to mindful parenting; accept the child without judgment; attain emotional awareness; have compassion toward the child (Duncan et al., 2009); and evaluate good behaviors, set clear rules, listen, and use positive disciplining rather than physical punishment with regard…”
Background
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Torres, N. F., Watson, D., Mohlomi, L., Hlungwani, T., Gardiner, C. V., Muller-Kluits, N., Norris, S. A., Draper, C. E., & Pentecost, M. (2026) · Frontiers in Global Women's Health · doi:10.3389/fgwh.2026.1880613
- Authors
- Topal Özgen, G., & Ekşi, H.
- Affiliations
- Marmara University
- ORCID
- Topal Özgen, Gülşen
- Venue
- The Family Journal
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2022-09-06
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 78-87
- ISSN
- 1066-4807 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3950
- OpenAlex
- W4294707628
- Cited by
- 6
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4
- FWCI
- 1.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Family Journal (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Work-Family Balance Challenges
- Keywords
- motherhood, middle childhood, maternal identity, maternal self-concept, maternal experience, communication with children
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
