Arnold, Eucille Elaine; (2001) Broken attachments of women from the West Indies separated from mothers in early childhood. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Many women who immigrated from the West Indies left their young children with grandmothers and the extended family for long periods. There then followed serial migration with children joining their mothers in England. This study examines the meanings for the women of the separations from their mothers and carers and the expectations of re-establishing ties with their biological mothers during and following reunion. It comprises 31 women aged 35 - 50 years who had joined their mothers in later childhood and adolescence. Using a semistructured interview schedule, narratives were obtained. The schedule was tested with a pilot study of 11 women. The main sample comprised twenty women. They were divided into two groups. Ten who were receiving or who had received counselling or psychotherapy, and ten who had no experience of therapy. The interviews covered the women's childhood experiences, the experience of leaving familiar people and environment, their experiences of reunion with their mothers and new families, their reflections on the feelings of those they had left, and on the feelings of the mothers they had rejoined. They were asked how they felt these experiences had affected their personalities. Attachment theory was the theoretical context for this study. The following variables were considered: relationship with mother before separation, age of the child when left, length of separation, the reunited mothers' emotional availability and the quality of the environment. Attention was given to the cultural perceptions of dependence and independence which might have influenced the attachment behaviour of the women. The difficulty in obtaining a large sample was attributed to the fact that for women of West Indian origin psychotherapeutic help is recent: many were predisposed to seeing their problems in an exclusively medical context. The anecdotal evidence gathered from the women revealed that those who were left when they were between the ages 0-3 years were unable to recall any interaction with their mothers. 30% of these were found in the therapy group and 15% in the comparison group who did not have therapy. Their relationships with their mothers were problematic and there was a lack of trust which prevented the making and sustaining of relationships.

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