'Feels a bit naughty when you're a mum' : alcohol use amongst mothers with preschool children : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology, Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa/New Zealand
Loading...
Date
2019
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Massey University
Rights
The Author
Abstract
Over the past two decades, young New Zealand women have consumed alcohol in a
culture of normalised intoxication, aligned with postfeminist and neoliberal values of
autonomy, fun and freedom of choice. As these women transition into motherhood, they
are exposed to contradictory messages on alcohol. Targeted by growing media and
advertising messages encouraging alcohol use as a coping strategy for motherhood, they
are also expected to conform to ‘good’ mothering ideology. With very little research in
this area, the current study aimed to explore the way mothers of preschool children talk
about their current alcohol use, their past alcohol use in young adulthood, other mothers’
alcohol use and their partner’s alcohol use. Using a gendered approach the goal was to
develop an understanding of how these mothers accepted, resisted and negotiated
meanings on alcohol use in early motherhood and how their drinking was negotiated with
their partners and parental responsibilities.
Following ethical approval, seven friendship discussion groups, involving 30 mothers
between ages 28 and 41 were conducted in Wellington, New Zealand. Transcribed
discussions were subject to Foucauldian discourse analysis, which showed that the
women drew upon the ‘work hard, play hard’ and ‘developmental age and stage’
discourses to normalise excessive drinking and experimentation in young adulthood. In
comparison, current drinking was discussed as routine and constructed as a ‘reward’, for
‘relaxation’ and as a form of ‘adult time out’, providing these mothers with a way to cope
and a brief escape from the demands of mothering. Unlike fathers’ drinking, which was
constructed as ‘masculine’, the mothers’ drinking was highly policed and sanctioned
through public ‘surveillance’ and their own ‘self-monitoring’.
Mothers who deviated from idealised expectations of ‘good’ mothering were seen as
lower-class. Although a ‘considerate family man’ discourse was drawn upon, it was the
mothers who still took on the primary caregiving role. They often instigated couple
negotiations on who was drinking and it was frequently their drinking (rather than fathers)
that was restricted due to parental responsibilities. Findings are discussed in terms of what
this means for public health campaigns, women’s access to alcohol support as well as
wider implications for gender relations.
Description
Keywords
Mothers, Attitudes, Alcohol use, Drinking of alcoholic beverages, New Zealand