Reconstructing selves: an analysis of discrepancies between women's contemporaneous and retrospective accounts of the transition to motherhood.
This paper empirically examines the notion of self-reconstruction. Accounts of personal identity were obtained from women at four time points during the transition to motherhood. The study compares the women's accounts of pregnancy recorded in real-time with those obtained retrospectively--after the child's birth, and looks for discrepancies between them. The women's retrospective records of pregnancy point to a number of reconstructive narratives: glossing over difficulties, emphasizing personal growth, highlighting continuity of self, sometimes combining different narratives within the same retrospective report. The findings are theorized in terms of the notion of self-reconstruction, whereby it is argued individuals modify their biographical presentations in order to produce self-enhancing personal accounts. It is suggested that cognitive, motivational and rhetorical factors all play a part in this process.
Smith
J A
JA
Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, UK.
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012649:Self Concept