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Resolution of Difficult Experiences and Future Parenting

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Pathways and Barriers to Parenthood

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Abstract

Struggling with difficulties might result in changes that promote a higher level of functioning than previously exhibited. This chapter focuses on difficult experiences prior to the transition to parenthood, and the imagined and actual implications of these experiences on future parenting. Two studies focusing on the experience of stillbirth and traumatic labor highlight the contribution of the resolution of difficult experiences and attachment security to mothers’ functioning and parenting. Findings of Study 1 indicate that women who experienced stillbirth had higher levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance and higher levels of unresolved loss than the control group. Nevertheless, they described the loss as an event that strengthened them and made them better women and mothers. In Study 2, mothers with high levels of anxious or avoidant attachment tended to have a more traumatic perception of the childbirth experience. Support and attachment security buffered the adverse implications of a difficult birth experience. The studies reveal risk and protective factors in the normative stressful life event of the transition to parenthood, and factors that promote positive change and increased strength in the face of adversity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling and Human Development, University of Haifa, 3498838, Haifa, Israel

    Miri Scharf, Pnina Isenberg-Borenstein & Rachel Marcow Rosenberg

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  1. Miri Scharf
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  2. Pnina Isenberg-Borenstein
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  3. Rachel Marcow Rosenberg
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Correspondence to Miri Scharf .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Orit Taubman – Ben-Ari

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Scharf, M., Isenberg-Borenstein, P., Marcow Rosenberg, R. (2019). Resolution of Difficult Experiences and Future Parenting. In: Taubman – Ben-Ari, O. (eds) Pathways and Barriers to Parenthood. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24864-2_13

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