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Doing their jobs: mothering with Ritalin in a culture of mother-blame

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  • Singh, Ilina

Abstract

In debates over diagnoses of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and use of the drug Ritalin among the American school age population, discussion often centers around who is to blame for rising diagnoses and increasing use of Ritalin. Parents have come under particular scrutiny by critics who associate ADHD behaviors in children with poor parenting and view Ritalin as a "quick-fix" for socially situated problems. Biologically oriented researchers of ADHD, on the other hand have posited organically based dysfunction as the cause of ADHD behaviors. This paper explores the problem of blame in relation to ADHD diagnoses and Ritalin use from the perspective of mothers of boys with ADHD. Qualitative interviews with mothers suggest that medicalization of problematic behaviors in young boys includes an inherent narrative of blame transformation; this transformation can be expressed as a binarism: mother-blame-brain-blame. The first two sections of the paper document mothers' experiences of blame for their sons' symptomatic behaviors against the background of a cultural mothering ideology. The third section considers the promise of absolution from mother-blame inherent in the transformative binary structure. I argue that medicalization of boys' problem behaviors supports and reconstitutes the potential for mother-blame and does little to pierce oppressive cultural mothering ideals.

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  • Singh, Ilina, 2004. "Doing their jobs: mothering with Ritalin in a culture of mother-blame," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(6), pages 1193-1205, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:59:y:2004:i:6:p:1193-1205
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    Cited by:

    1. Wilcox, Claire E. & Washburn, Rachel & Patel, Vikram, 2007. "Seeking help for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in developing countries: A study of parental explanatory models in Goa, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(8), pages 1600-1610, April.
    2. Claire Edwards & Etaoine Howlett & Madeleine Akrich & Vololona Rabeharisoa, 2012. "Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in France and Ireland: parents' groups' scientific and political framing of an unsettled condition," CSI Working Papers Series 024, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    3. Choudhury, Suparna & McKinney, Kelly A. & Kirmayer, Laurence J., 2015. "“Learning how to deal with feelings differently”: Psychotropic medications as vehicles of socialization in adolescence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 311-319.
    4. Elsa Davidson, 2021. "The child sensorium as privileged biopolitical resource: Sensory care and the burden of emotional control in middle class North American childhood," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(6), pages 1129-1147, September.
    5. O'Connor, Cliodhna & Kadianaki, Irini & Maunder, Kristen & McNicholas, Fiona, 2018. "How does psychiatric diagnosis affect young people's self-concept and social identity? A systematic review and synthesis of the qualitative literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 94-119.
    6. Ecks, Stefan & Kupfer, Christine, 2015. "“What is strange is that we don't have more children coming to us”: A habitography of child psychiatrists and scholastic pressure in Kolkata, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 336-342.
    7. Valentine, Kylie, 2010. "A consideration of medicalisation: Choice, engagement and other responsibilities of parents of children with autism spectrum disorder," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(5), pages 950-957, September.
    8. Edwards, Claire & Howlett, Etaoine, 2013. "Putting knowledge to trial: ‘ADHD parents’ and the evaluation of alternative therapeutic regimes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 34-41.
    9. Fried, Talia & Plotkin-Amrami, Galia, 2023. "Not all diagnoses are created equal: Mothers’ narratives of children, ADHD, and comorbid diagnoses," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    10. Timmermans, Stefan & Tietbohl, Caroline, 2018. "Fifty years of sociological leadership at Social Science and Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 209-215.

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