Wise, well off and tired: a qualitative study of over-35 mothers raising their teens

This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to understand the experience of 10 later-life mothers who had a first child at age 35 or older and were in the process of raising a teenager. Data were collected with semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic coding. Initial findings suggest maternal age contributes to a positive parenting outcome due to life experience, emotional maturity and financial security. Drawbacks include fatigue and reduced fertility that limited family size, as well as competing life stages such as retirement and college. Older mothers felt in the mainstream. Clinical implications are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Development

Department dc:contributor.department

Human Development

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Fiore, Faye

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Huebner, Angela J.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Wittenborn, Andrea K.
• Falconier, Mariana

• adolescence
• delayed motherhood
• maternal age
• menopause

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:3078

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/63924