An examination of the construct maternal myth and its relationship to mothering behavior

Following a review of the research on inconsistent mothering, attachment theory, social cognition, and narrative theory, maternal myth is proposed as an underlying, unifying construct through which to examine mothering behavior. A community sample of 27 mother-child dyads participated in a study designed to evaluate the construct maternal myth. It was hypothesized that certain characteristics of maternal myth, namely coherence, affect tone, and motivational theme, are interrelated and could be used to predict (1) mother responsiveness to child cues, (2) mother negativity in the mother-child interaction, (3) personality rigidity in mothers, and (4) mother satisfaction with mother-child interaction. A relationship was found between affect tone and communion in maternal myth, but no relationships were found among other maternal myth variables. The overall results of the study were inconclusive, as the maternal myth variables were not significantly related to any of the other measures. Limitations of the study which may have contributed to the dearth of findings are discussed, and recommendations for future investigations are made.