Mothers’ experience of having one child

Abstract

Back in 1977, mothers of an on only child were considered as being selfish and unconcerned about the harm they were causing their only child (Newman, 2011). Research is lacking with regards to what mothers of an only child go through in their lives. Therefore, the main focus of this study was to explore the in-depth experience of mothers‟ with an only child. Data was collected through the use of individual semi-structured interviews conducted with six Maltese mothers‟ aged 40 or over. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data was analysed with Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach. Five superordinate themes, followed by different subordinate themes were drawn out from the interview transcripts. These included: the trials and tribulations of a life that limits family size, mothers‟ personal choice to stop at one child, the mothers‟ perspective regarding their relationships with their children, the co-occurrence of negative and positive emotions, and social stigma. Mothers of an only child, have interpreted their experiences both positively and negatively for which some of the themes were also found to be consistent with results from existing literature. This qualitative study‟s aim was to give a voice to mothers who have an only child.