Abstract The transition to motherhood may be a formative event including positive emotions alongside stress and difficulties, which can lead to personal growth. Based on Schaefer and Moos’ (1992) Personal Growth model, we examined the association between parenting stress and personal growth (PG), focusing on variables representing the mother’s perception of herself, her relationship with the infant, and their interaction. We explored the mediating role of maternal compassion preoccupation (which refers to the emotional nuances of new mothers as they adapt to their role as infant caregivers), and the moderating roles of mentalization and perfectionism. Self-compassion, mentalization, and perfectionism refer to different aspects of the mother’s perception herself, whereas compassion fatigue and satisfaction examine different aspects of the mother-infant relationship. Participants were 348 first-time mothers who completed self-report questionnaires. Findings indicated a negative association, as well as a curvilinear correlation, between parenting stress and PG. Maternal compassion preoccupation was found to mediate the association between parenting stress and PG. Although mentalization and perfectionism were associated with PG, they did not moderate the association between parenting stress and PG. The findings indicate the need to further explore the resources that can help new mothers thrive despite parenting stress. Practically, they suggest that low-moderate levels of parenting stress do not prevent the personal growth process. This supports the need for pre- and postnatal interventions focusing on addressing the mother’s emotional experience in adapting to her new role as an infant caregiver.
Katz et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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