Research Paper on Exploring Motherhood: African American Women Across Three Generations

Introduction

"The concept of motherhood among three generations of African American women* by Katherine Ferrell Fouquier explores the transition to motherhood for three generations of African American women to comprehend their perspectives and experiences. The media underrepresent and give a negative stereotypical impression of black motherhood that propagates racism and societal prejudice. Classism and sexism also affect the maternal experience for the African American women which is also touched on in the article. The study aims to provide actual first-hand facts about maternal identity that can help understand the demographic. African American culture, sexism, stress, and other psychological factors have effects on maternal experience (Fouquier, 2011). The author aims to add on existing literature on African American women studies with regards to motherhood to fill the research gap on the habitually misunderstood group While the article provides an understanding of the maternal experience of African American women in different generations, there are limitations related to sampling, design and data collection.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Overview of The Study

There are 18 women used in the study whose interviews give firsthand accounts of maternal experience. They are grouped into three categories based on their generations. Generation one had 7 women between the ages of 65-83 years who had maternal experience between 1950 and 1970. The second-generation cluster had 5 women between the ages of 51-58 years that became mothers between 1971 and 1990. The third generation had 6 mothers between the ages of 30-41 years who had maternal experience experienced between 1991 and 2003 (Fouquier, 2011). The women recruited were mostly partnered, middle class, and educated in a purposive sample that used the snowball technique. The methodological approach used was the hermeneutic phenomenology from the perspective of an Afrocentric feminist where an in-depth understanding was gathered through open-ended interviews. There were three patterns identified with their associate themes. The first pattern titled It took me a Minute had three themes which are Realizing What Mothers Do, Finding Out, and Way Tricked. The second pattern titled Preserving Our Home had four themes namely I Did the Best I Could, Mothering Within the Isms; classism, racism, and sexism, Spiritual Mothers, and Mothers and Others. The third pattern titled Eat the Meat, Throw Away the Bone had two themes which are Someone Who Looks Like Me and The Ways in which We Learn (Fouquier, 2011).

The study provided results that were consistent with the descriptions of becoming a mother and maternal identity. They add to the understanding of African American mothers and their families in the context of classism, sexism, and racism. The study also found out that future analytic tools and theoretical frameworks should be developed on grounds of understanding the African American history and cultural influences on cultural and family knowledge to assess psychological factors on health (Fouquier, 2011). "The concept of motherhood among three generations of African American women" explores motherhood in three generations of African American women to understand their perspectives. The media prejudice, sexism, racism, and classism are factors that cause psychological distress in African American women (Stevens-Watkins et al., 2014). The psychological factors have effects on maternal experience (Fouquier, 2011).

The study demonstrated how feelings and beliefs of maternal judgments are perpetuated by both mass and professional media. Motherhood provides respect, satisfaction, and has a significant meaning for the African American women (Deas, 2018). There is also strong social support and a communal role during the transition to motherhood. The study's clinical relevance is that it adds to current knowledge on providing social support for mothers in transition. It is also informative on the various stereotypes and lack of representation by the media and provides an understanding of African American mothers (Joe et al., 2019). There is a positive description of African American motherhood through the stories of the 18 mothers in the study.

Strengths of The Study

Interviews are a strength of this study that requires firsthand information on how women experience motherhood. The study aims to find out how African American women experience motherhood. There are societal pressures, stereotypes, racism, and sexism that affect these mothers. Interviews are appropriate for such a study since these are psychological factors that need an individual response (Laureate Education Inc.,2011). The study benefits from this method of data collection that allows women to express their specific experiences of motherhood. Therefore, the strength of the study is that one can be sure of the accuracy of the information that is collected.

The open-ended questions in the interview allow for flexibility in the responses which is a strength (Laureate Education Inc., 2011). The questions are not directed to the desired end but rather make the results authentic by allowing the mothers to respond freely. When every person interviewed provides a similar response, then could the author begin to see a pattern. The patterns could have been predetermined by the author but they were not to create a genuine study based on facts (Gray, Grove & Sutherland, 2017). Every mother would have a different response, and the psychological effects they go through form the patterns. In giving open-ended interviews, the study succeeded in creating an opportunity to understand the African American motherhood experience.

Data sampling is another strength of the study because it chose women before the Civil Rights Movement, after the Civil Rights Movement and the later generation. These generations provide insight into the African American mother's experience through different periods with which comparisons can be drawn (Fouquier, 2011). The different ages elucidate on the changes that have occurred over time regarding motherhood experience. They all had different challenges and privileges that had effects on the psychological state. The Civil Rights Movement is a major event as far as this study is concerned because it defined the African American place in society (Stevens-Watkins et al., 2014). The women before social justice and after social justice had a different experience while transitioning to motherhood. The study aims to provide understanding for the African American experience transition to motherhood, and the wide scope of data is a strength due to its big perspective.

Weaknesses of The Study

Interviews are unreliable because one can provide false information, thus making it equally a weakness of the study (Gray, Grove & Sutherland, 2017). A woman that experienced motherhood before the Civil Rights Movement might not have an accurate record of her maternal experience. Similarly, a woman who has recently given birth might be overwhelmed by interview questions may be due to family obligations or strenuous work schedule. The point is that human is marred by error and they can also be untruthful. The author mentioned psychological issues brought upon by stereotypes which can cause victim mentality (Fouquier, 2011). The women in the study might have societal pressures to provide information that will represent them well. Therefore, the information provided might be intended to make them appear as positive people which in fact could be untrue. Therefore, a weakness of the study is that it acquired data through interviews which can be unreliable.

The snowball sampling technique can produce inconclusive results and is hence a weakness. The sampling technique helps to reach a specific target population that is hard to get access to, thereby depending on referrals to collect the samples (Gray, Grove & Sutherland, 2017). There can be a margin of error or sampling bias because people refer to those that they know and share the same traits. The researcher might only end up with samples with similar characteristics that would be used to represent an entire population. In addition, snowball sampling depends on referrals who might not cooperate accurately in the research study. If indeed they are hard to reach population, then they might have some reservations about participating.

Random selection of samples has the benefit of gaining a non-biased result of the research conducted. However, snowball sampling does not randomize its samples and can end up with similar responses from the mothers. The mothers might refer other mothers who have the same experiences and end up filling in similar information hence misrepresenting an entire black community. The inability to know the exact population size is yet another disadvantage of snowball sampling. Therefore, it is impossible to know the total number of people the samples represent. The results might be inaccurate and not indicative of actual trends because it only targets a few select people. The sampling method is also out of the researchers' control because of its dependence on the original and subsequent subjects (Gray, Grove & Sutherland, 2017). Therefore, the snowball sampling technique is a weakness of the study.

The sample size was also small to provide an understanding of African American mothers and the complexities of sexism, racism, and other psychological factors. There are many African American mothers such that 18 of them is a misrepresentation of the demographic. Additionally, the study categorizes them into three generations where 7 mothers represent the first generation, 5 representing the second, while the third generation had 6 mothers. There are many black mothers in America whose experiences cannot be generalized using the handful of samples. The experience of motherhood is specific, or perhaps shared by a small group, hence it is wrong for the study to assume it will produce an accurate account of its aims. Furthermore, the study uses educated, middle class, and partnered mothers which is another misrepresentation of the African American mother demographic. There is a significant number of unemployed, single, and poor African American mothers that have been excluded from the study (Vakorina, 2014). Their experiences have a critical input in the aim of the study. Therefore, the study has the weakness of selecting a small sample size that also excludes a large demographic of African American mothers.

Proposed Changes to Improve the Quality of The Study

The study would benefit from increasing its sample size to more than 18 candidates. Perhaps a sample size of 60 would do where there are 20 mothers for each generation. Increased sample size would diversify the interview responses and generate a stronger trend than is the case now (Laureate Education Inc., 2011). The snowball sampling technique used would also increase its effectiveness when there are many referrals. The researcher can then randomize the samples from the large demographic. One of the pitfalls of snowball sampling is that the samples are likely to share similar traits. However, there is more diversity with increased sample size. The quality of the study suffers from both a small size that is non-randomized (Gray, Grove & Sutherland, 2017). The study would thus reflect on a specific small portion of African American mothers whose perspectives are different from the larger population that it is meant to represent. Therefore, the study would improve its quality by increasing the sample size to factor...