Crisis and becoming a mother

This book looks at the construction of maternal identity in the face of adversity, in the context of the cultural in-between of contemporary Africa.This book presents the cultural in-between of contemporary Africa, and the cultural containment of motherhood in this context, before tackling the construction of the maternal in a situation of early motherhood. Since adolescence and parenthood are two similar periods of development, the adolescent mother undergoes a dual identity construction that can hinder the psychic reorganization essential to the acquisition of the maternal role. In some teenage mothers, this situation leads to a deficient construction of the maternal identity and to disturbances in the mother-child relationship.There is also the construction of maternal identity following premature delivery. In the face of premature delivery, maternal processes are disrupted, leading to psychic disorganization in the mother-to-be. This constitutes a crisis that must be overcome if the construction of the maternal is to be effective.