Qualitative exploration assesses maternal guilt and emotion regulation strategies among diverse mothers, suggesting ways to assist professionals.
Key Points
To investigate maternal guilt and the emotion regulation strategies mothers use in response to it.
Conducted semi-structured cognitive interviews with 11 mothers from diverse cultures.
Utilized thematic analysis to identify themes in mothers' experiences of guilt.
Developed a maternal guilt scale based on the interview data.
Identified four key themes related to maternal guilt: identity maintenance, good enough mother discourse, social competition avoidance, and the role of social support.
Guilt among mothers is closely related to social comparisons, particularly influenced by social media.