Hostility In Mothers
16 May, 2009Women's Refuge Movement invited Nola Webb and Jane Oliver to present the recent findings of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Jane attended the Statewide Annual Conference in Sydney with the research findings from the Institute of Family Studies' and several other senior researchers' efforts. The conference had a mixed response to the core finding: the most significant factor that contributes to negative outcomes in babies and young children is the unpalatable facotr: HOSTILITY OF PRIMARY CARER (in most cases this is the mother). Some conference attendees were considerably confronted by the findings, and focused on the plight of women who are victims of family violence. The research findings were focused on the children. Jane's presentation asked service workers to re-consider their priorities to find a way to accept these difficult findings and assist mothers to learn new ways of parenting when stressed. She emphasised that hostility, coercion, control and anger were still extremely damaging even when coupled with great warmth in parents. Fathers' hostility was also the major contributor to negative outcomes in 4-5 year olds. To view the presentation, please write to jane@footprintdirections.com