Contribution of personal and community resources to personal growth of mothers from Israel and Turkey

ABSTRACT

Aims

The transition to parenthood is considered one of the most important milestones in a person’s life, bringing with it various changes and challenges. One possible outcome of such a life-altering and stressful event is the experience of personal growth (PG). This study examines the contribution of a mother’s personal resources (emotion regulation strategies, resilience) and environmental resources (sense of community) to her PG following the transition to motherhood, taking into account the role played by ethnicity.

Methods

Data was collected from 402 Israeli Arab, Israeli Jewish, and Turkish first-time mothers of babies up to twenty-four months old.

Results

It was found that Israeli Arab mothers reported significantly higher expressive suppression and PG than the other two groups. In addition, Israeli Arab mothers scored significantly higher on resilience, and Israeli Jewish mothers scored significantly higher on sense of community, than Turkish mothers. After controlling for mother and baby background variables, cognitive reappraisal and sense of community were found to predict PG. Two interactions emerged: higher sense of community was related to greater PG only among Israeli Arab mothers; and a positive association between resilience and growth was found only among Israeli Jewish mothers. The results are discussed in relation to the literature.

Conclusion

Personal and environmental resources contribute differently to growth of first-time mothers in different cultures. Thus, rather than implementing the same type of intervention in all cultures, appropriate interventions should be tailored for each culture in accordance with its unique characteristics.

KEYWORDS:

• Motherhood
• personal growth
• emotional regulation
• resilience
• sense of community
• cross-cultural

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Compliance with ethical standards

The study was conducted in compliance with ethical standards.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.