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Transforming identities: A repertory grid case study of the transition to motherhood
Author(s) -
Smith Jonathan Alan
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
british journal of medical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.102
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 2044-8341
pISSN - 0007-1129
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8341.1990.tb01616.x
Subject(s) - repertory grid , intrapersonal communication , psychology , interpersonal communication , transition (genetics) , perception , identity (music) , social psychology , personal identity , developmental psychology , self concept , aesthetics , biochemistry , chemistry , philosophy , neuroscience , gene
This study follows one woman through her pregnancy and the transition to motherhood, exploring the relationship between this life‐event and aspects of her personal identity. Repertory grids were obtained from her four times during the transition, and at the end of the study she completed retrospective grids for how she thought she was during the pregnancy. Changes in the grids were analysed and the contemporaneous and retrospective grids compared. The graphical analysis was discussed with the participant. The study finds a growing integration in the woman's personal construct system (both intrapersonal and interpersonal) during the pregnancy. Discrepancies in the woman's retrospective perception were also found, and are discussed in terms of selective self‐perception or construction. The woman's reaction to the analysis is included in the paper. The study illustrates a methodology for exploring reflexivity, which is of growing concern in a number of areas of social science.