Exploring the subjective experiences of Japanese mothers who abuse their infants and young children: A qualitative study

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the subjective experiences of mothers who abused their infants and young children. This qualitative inductive study comprised semi structured interviews with six mothers who received public support to prevent the abuse of their infants and young children.
Methods: We analyzed the results qualitatively and inductively. We summarized mothers’ experiences into four core categories: justifying husbands with no intention of protecting their families, internalizing both the crying self and the self who strives to raise the child perfectly, falling into a vicious loop of abuse and having suicidal thoughts, and controlling the vicious abuse loop with the emergence of faint hope.
Results: Our findings indicate that the causes of maternal abuse included the crying self-seeking love, an imbalance from wanting perfection in child-rearing, negative factors regarding the husband, a lack of opportunities to nurture maternal instincts, and the child’s behavior serving as the trigger. Mothers in situations of abuse experienced uncontrollable anger, vicious loops of abuse, and suicidal thoughts. Abuse was prevented by the emergence of a glimmer of hope through budding feelings of attachment and various forms of support aiming to control the vicious loop.
Conclusions: Experts’ support encouraged mothers to regain control and experience hope.