Becoming a Mother: Occupational Change in First Time Motherhood

Abstract

Abstract Having a first baby is considered a major life event, due to significant role change impacting on the ordinary and familiar occupations the new mother performs every day. The aim of this small‐scale exploratory study was to explore changes in the occupational lives of first time mothers. A concurrent nested strategy of enquiry was used. Quantitative data collected via the Modified Interest Checklist and the Role Checklist were nested within qualitative data collected through semi‐structured interviews. Six first time mothers, who were two and a half years post motherhood and aged between 28 and 42 years, participated in this study. The findings indicate that ‘new mothers’ engaging in a pre‐motherhood lifestyle that comprised a balance of self‐care, leisure, productivity and rest occupations experience a period of occupational disruption before adapting into motherhood. These mothers’ lives are productivity dominant, with most of their time being spent in paid employment and/or performing homecare/family care tasks. Their lives are also obligatory dominant, for example, they are performing occupations they need to do to enable them to fulfil their role as mother, as opposed to those they choose to do.