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Advice to mothers about managing children's behaviours in C anada's premier woman's magazine: a comparison of 1945–1956 with 1990–2010
Author(s) -
Clarke Juanne N.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1111/cfs.12079
Subject(s) - mental health , psychology , period (music) , qualitative research , exploratory research , developmental psychology , gender studies , social psychology , sociology , psychiatry , social science , art , aesthetics
Recent research and theorizing has characterized contemporary mothering as medicalized, intensive and risky. The rate of diagnosis of children's mental health issues has grown rapidly, particularly since the 90s. This paper examines the construction of mothering in regard to children's behaviours and mental health through an exploratory and qualitative content analysis of the portrayal of advice to mothers in C hatelaine M agazine, the premier women's magazine published in C anada. The time periods chosen for comparison were 1945–1956 and 1990–2010. The first period was selected because it was a time of dramatic changes that occurred in family, occupational and domestic life for women immediately after World War II. The second represents the modern period. The findings of the paper suggest that mothering was intensive, medicalized and risky in both periods although the conceptualizations of problems differed.