COMMUNICATIVE CONSTRUCTION OF EXPECTATIONS: AN EXAMINATION OF EXPECTATIONS REGARDING MOTHERS IN NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION

The construction of expectations has long been relegated and confined to psychological inquiry. This creates a deficit in research that necessitates a qualitative examination of how interpersonal discourse reflects and constructs mothering expectations. This study seeks to describe the relational construction of expectations of the ideal mother. Elicited dyadic interactions were analyzed on three major dimensions, including linguistics, communications, and narratives. Linguistic analysis revealed that conversations tended to be more positively valenced, uncertain, and presently oriented. Additionally, these findings gave a gross description of negotiation strategies in which participants engaged when coming to agreement. Participants engaging in the narrative negotiation constructed stories with repetitive themes including the qualities (―who a mother is‖) and actions (―what a mother does‖) of a mother.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Montana

Year

2013

Author dc:creator

• Allen, Jordan A

• communication
• construction
• expectations
• mothers
• narrative

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/215

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-1234