Adaptation to the role of the mother as a psychological experience

Abstract

It is hypothesized that children of different ages cause different emotional experiences in women. In relation to the first child, mothers more often than to the second, on the one hand, feel delight, pride, and on the other – anxiety and fear. The second child, in comparison with the first, more often causes joy, surprise. Mothers' perceptions of the personal characteristics of children of different ages have certain features. Mothers perceive the older child as more self-confident, disciplined and independent; mostly treat her as an individual. Women evaluate the youngest child as more extroverted, sociable, open. There are a number of relationships between the characteristics of a woman's personality and the peculiarities of her attitude to the older and younger child. A woman's harmonious relationship with her parents has a positive effect on her perception of her own children. Such personality traits as anxiety, self-doubt, low stress resistance, inability to establish interpersonal relationships negatively affect the ability of a woman to harmoniously fulfil the role of mother, her adaptation to the upbringing children of different ages.