The Impact of Ethnicity on African-American Mothering During the Separation-Individuation Phase of Development
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1983 The impact of ethnicity on African-American mothering during the separation-individuation phase of development. Dorcas D. Bowles University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Bowles, Dorcas D., "The impact of ethnicity on African-American mothering during the separation-individuation phase of development." (1983). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 4126. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/4126 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 3ieQbb OSTfl MD72 y FIVE COLLEGE DEPOSITORY THE IMPACT OF ETHNICITY ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN MOTHERING DURING THE SEPARATION- INDIVIDUATION PHASE OF DEVELOPMENT A Dissertation Presented By DORCAS DAVIS BOWLES Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION September 1983 School of Education THE IMPACT OF ETHNICITY ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN MOTHERING DURING THE SEPARATION- INDIVIDUATION PHASE OF DEVELOPMENT A Dissertation Presented By DORCAS DAVIS BOWLES Approved as to style and content by: \ it* Carolyn P. "Edvards, Asst. Prof, of Education Chairperson of Commitl 'Trtr Gene T.'&LL Orro, Asso. Prof, of Education Member Edwin Driver, Prof, of Sociology Member Dorcas Davis Bowles All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Much love is expressed to my two daughters, Adriene Diane and Anita Dorcas, whose developments reawakened all those warm feelings I experienced in my own child¬ hood which taught me to know and give unconditional love. I also wish to express thanks to the twenty- five mothers who participated in this study and who openly and honestly shared their concerns, fears, hopes, and dreams about their child-rearing practices and goals for their children. There were times in my discussions with the mothers that a deep commonality of experience was felt. I can only say that this area of common ground between us served to enrich and broaden understanding. To each of the mothers, I am grateful and appreciative. ABSTRACT THE IMPACT OF ETHNICITY ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN MOTHERING DURING THE SEPARATION-INDIVIDUATION PHASE OF DEVELOPMENT September 1983 Dorcas Davis Bowles, B. A., Tuskegee Institute M.S.S., Smith College School for Social Work Ed.D., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Professor Carolyn T. Edwards This study is an exploratory clinical investigation of African-American mothers* child-rearing attitudes and beliefs toward children during the practicing and rapprochement sub-phases of separation/individuation (tenth through twenty-second month). The study is based on the assumption that African-American mothering differs in subtle but critical ways from white middle-class mothering. Mothering includes not only emotional, psychological and behavioral components, but is comprised also of the attitudes and beliefs that arise out of the mother's experience within a sub-culture and her desire to prepare her child for adaptation and survival both within that sub-culture and the larger majority culture. Given IV the oppressive society that African-Americans have experi¬ enced, the socialization of young children reflects that experience and implies certain adaptive and survival features. This clinical investigation addresses this critical issue of the interface between ethnicity and mothering for theory building and to enhance clinical work with African-American mothers and their children. The choice of focusing on the separation/ individuation phase arises out of the fact that this is the time that the child is beginning to move away from the mother in preparation for interaction with the larger environment, and the mother plays a critical role in fostering adaptive and survival skills in the child. Adaptive, survival features of black mothering may differ in degree from one mother to another depending on each individual mother's experiences and/or special circum¬ stances. However, given that all black mothers experi¬ ence racism and oppression of some degree, the writer suggests that there will be specific themes and patterns which will emerge that will cut across education, class, employment, and socioeconomic levels. Hence, one should be able to note individual differences and models as well as group patterns and trends. v Insofar as this study seeks to break new ground in an as yet unexplored area, the results are viewed as exploratory and preliminary with a view towards refining and strengthening theory and methodology for subsequent studies in this field. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ... .ill Chapter I. INTRODUCTION . 1 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 13 Attachment. Normal Mothering: Implications for Black Mother/Child Interactions . 18 Aggression and Locomotion . 24 Competence. 32 Object Relations Theory: Separation/ Individuation . 38 Separation/Individuation . 40 Locus of Control. 51 III. METHODOLOGY. 56 Sample. 56 Procedures. 60 IV. RESULTS. 66 Attachment/Bonding . 66 Similarities in Child-Rearing Practices with Own Mothers. 71 Locomotion. 74 Curbing Aggression . 84 Mothers' View of World Child is Entering . 88 Resources. 90 Impact of Religion, Class, Employment, and Race on Mothering .. 91 Books, Magazines and Child-Rearing . 92 Need for Special Knowledge by Black Child. 95 Dealing With Subtle Racism . 95 Age to Prepare Child to Live in Society . 98 vii Externality. 100 Religion. 106 Influence of 60's on Child-Rearing Views . 108 Black Dolls/Toys. 110 Where Black Mothers Seek Help. 114 Development of Ethnic Self-Representa- tion. 116 Role of the Father/ Siblings and Extended Family Members During the Separation/ Individuation . 133 V. RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .... 137 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 140 APPENDICES. 148 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Mother's Internality-Externality Score and Their Beliefs About Whether Their Child Will Ever Be Safe in the Outside World . 103 IX CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Theodore Lidz (1963), a family scholar, wrote: ...each society has a vital interest in the indoctrination of the infants who form its new recruits. It lives only through its members, and its culture is its heart which they must keep pulsating. Without it, its members are rootless and lost; and they will defend it with their lives...but they must be so raised that the culture exists in them and they can transmit it to the next generation. It is a task that each society largely delegates, even though unwittingly, to an agency—the family (p. 19). The notion that human development is a result of the interaction between the infant, the mother, and the environment is not in the least a new or revolutionary notion. Indeed, mental-health professionals expouse this notion consistently. What is remarkable, however, is the conspicuous omission of ethnicity as a variable in data interpretation. The terms "ethnicity" and "culture," although enjoying a close relationship represent separate and different concepts. Culture is defined by Webster (1961) as the totality of socially transmitted behavior 1 2 patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought characteristic of a community or population. It is derived from the Latin word "cultura" meaning "to till," and addresses itself to the growth and development of a people. The term "ethnicity," on the other hand, comes from the Greek "ethnikos," the adjectival form of "ethnos" meaning "nation." The Latin derivation of the word "nation" or "natio" conjures up images of "birth" and leads us to think in terms of one's origin, history and race. Thus, "culture" connotes developmental universals pertaining to a larger group, while "ethnicity" represents specific membership in a racial group subsumed under the larger unit and is accorded a special status on the basis of complex, often variable traits including physical, ancestral, religious, and linguistic characteristics. African-Americans*, as a subcultural group, share in and are influenced by the experience of the dominant culture—i.e., speech, politics, religion, economic conditions, education, etc. The values, beliefs, be¬ haviors of the dominant culture get translated through an ethnic vision whose meaning is individually determined based on one's family and life experiences. For black ★ In this study, the term "African-American" will be used^ interchangeably with the more commonly used term "black." 3 people, it has been important to assimilate and digest the dominant culture in ways that allow for the holding on of one's subcultural values while at the same time being able to make creative adaptations to the dominant culture for survival purposes. While these creative adaptations have been identified in the social sciences as examples of how ethnicity impacts on psychic develop¬ ment thereby shaping individual and group development, they are poorly understood in psychiatry, psychology, child development and clinical social work. Despite the persistence in both conscious and unconscious ways of African-American values and behaviors down through the generations, this misunderstanding continues. The absence of studies on the interface between ethnicity and mothering is a crucial and