Abstract
The current research study asks the question “What is the mother’s emotional
response to the relationship with her child?” The Oxford English Dictionary (2011) gives
the definition of emotions as a strong feeling deriving from one’s circumstances, mood,
or relationships with others. The word relationship, they define as the way in which two
or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected (Oxford
University Press, 2011). Much of the existing research into the connection between
mother and child (e.g. Schore, 2007; Balbernie, 2001; Seigal, 1999) focuses on the
emotional influence the relationship has on the infant in the dyad. What of the mother’s
response to her child? How does the infant affect her? Using the methods of a focus
group and a case study, the current research dissertation addresses these questions. The
study finds that a mother’s state is intensely influenced by interactions with her infant;
that there are indeed a number of emotional patterns that the mother exhibits in response
to her child. Author keywords: Relationship, attachment, mother, infant
