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Ups and Downs in the Joy of Motherhood: Maternal Well-Being as a Function of Psychological Needs, Personality, and Infant Temperament

Author

Listed:
  • Katrijn Brenning

    (Ghent University)

  • Bart Soenens

    (Ghent University)

  • Elien Mabbe

    (Ghent University)

  • Maarten Vansteenkiste

    (Ghent University)

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate several relevant psychological factors, including both mother characteristics (i.e., basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, depressogenic personality) and child characteristics (i.e., infant temperament) in relation to daily variation in maternal well-being. Mothers (N = 126) participated in a five-day diary study shortly after child-birth, when the child went to day-care for the first time. The latter specific episode was chosen as this period is potentially stressful (due to parent–child separation and challenges in work–family life balance) and within-person variation is expected to be high in such episodes. At the within-person level, day-to-day variation in psychological need satisfaction and frustration related to day-to-day variability in maternal well-being. At the between-person level, maternal self-criticism related negatively to well-being, while perceived infant temperament yielded few direct associations. Instead, the child’s temperament played a moderating role in the association between basic psychological needs and maternal well-being. The findings of this study underscore the importance of a dynamic view on maternal well-being, with basic psychological needs, maternal personality and infant temperament contributing to well-being in a complex fashion.

Suggested Citation

  • Katrijn Brenning & Bart Soenens & Elien Mabbe & Maarten Vansteenkiste, 2019. "Ups and Downs in the Joy of Motherhood: Maternal Well-Being as a Function of Psychological Needs, Personality, and Infant Temperament," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 229-250, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:20:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10902-017-9936-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-017-9936-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Arnstein Aassve & Alice Goisis & Maria Sironi, 2012. "Happiness and Childbearing Across Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 65-86, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Elizabeth A Simpson & Lauren M Robinson & Annika Paukner, 2019. "Infant rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) personality and subjective well-being," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-23, December.
    2. Elise Peters & Jolanda Maas & Dieuwke Hovinga & Nicole Van den Bogerd & Carlo Schuengel, 2020. "Experiencing Nature to Satisfy Basic Psychological Needs in Parenting: A Quasi-Experiment in Family Shelters," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-15, November.

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