NCJ Number
177013
Journal
Gender and Society Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: June 1999 Pages: 347-363
Date Published
1999
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study examined 17 substance-abusing women's perceptions of their mothering practices in the context of a residential substance-abuse treatment program for women with children and pregnant women.
Abstract
Using in-depth semistructured interviews and observations of treatment groups, the subjects' cultural knowledge about mothering was explored. Findings show that although the subjects realized that their substance-abusing lifestyles had, at times, a negative impact on their children, they also insisted that they exhibited mothering behaviors associated with socially acceptable, intensive parenting. The women did not view themselves as bad or unfit mothers, nor were they willing to admit that they were always incapable or less competent than other mothers. Rather, they clearly and uniformly evoked images of themselves and detailed practices that illustrated their capabilities as parents. The women described their mothering practices primarily in relation to the "needs" of the children. Missing from their responses was an explicit consideration of their parenting experiences in terms of class, gender, or race. Sometimes respondents expressed feelings of powerlessness and recognized the public assistance systems as intrusive and victimizing, noticing that they were not protected or privileged in the same way as middle-class women. The participants did not, however, claim that their class position had an impact on their parenting experiences. Similarly, an analysis of gender was also absent in their talk about mothering. An absence of talk about their partners was, in part, due to resocialization away from dependence on men that occurred during treatment, although it also shows an assumption that the primary care of children should be left to the mothers, a classic patriarchal notion. Claiming to be and viewing themselves as "great" mothers illustrates that these women reject a portrayal of them as bad mothers and instead create for themselves more inclusive boundaries for acceptable mothering practices. Similar to other marginalized women, the substance-abusing women reported loving their children and caring for them in many ways, even when this love and caring conflicted with the women's own personal needs while using drugs. 39 references