Sun Apr 18, 2010
Comments
[My brother in law forwarded this article to me. We had discussed it over lunch with some friends from work. I replied with my comments after I had a chance to read the article.]
Helpful Dads Can Hurt Mom's Self-Esteem
As for why a mother's self-competence took a hit from perfect dads, Sasaki suggests pressure to keep up with societal norms plays a role.
"In American society, women are expected to take a main role in parenting despite increasingly egalitarian sex roles," Sasaki said. "Thus, we believe that employed mothers suffer from self-competence losses when their husbands are involved and skillful because those mothers may consider that it is a failure to fulfill cultural expectations."
Sasaki added, "Husbands do not suffer from self-competence losses even when their wives are involved and skillful because that is consistent with cultural expectations."
Why is the illness always diagnosed as social pressure? What about biological impulse? Maybe the mother feels the father is robbing her of time to bond emotionally with her baby- time she feels is rightfully hers. I don’t know. I’m just saying there’s more than one possibility here.