MOTHERHOOD AND MIGRATION: AN OVERREVIEW OF RESEARCH

Abstract

Providing the safety for the child is the fundamental basis of the motherhood as complex biological and psychological phenomenon with a variety of manifestation forms and features of genesis. The full-scale war initiated by Russia against Ukraine prioritize this aim and brought new meanings to the functioning of motherhood as a socio-psychological phenomenon in general. Thousands of Ukrainian women were forced to leave their homes and go abroad in order to save the lives and future of their children. A woman's decision on forced migration inevitably triggers a series of transformations related to the realization of maternal functions, since their implementation takes place in completely new, unpredictable, complicated and, in the vast majority, uncomfortable conditions. Being stressed and emotionally unstable, women are forced to quickly adapt to a situation of uncertainty, make responsible decisions and provide emotional support and a sense of at least minimal stability for their children. Since the research on the forced migration of Ukrainian mothers is at the beginning, this article is an attempt to analyze and generalize the world research experience regarding the study of motherhood under conditions of migration.

The conducted analysis gives reasons to claim that despite the strengthening of migration processes all over the world due to wars and globalization, which, accordingly, increases a social demand for a scientific attention, the number of psychological studies is quite insignificant. Most often, the problem of motherhood is considered in the context of broader problems: gender- or migration-related. Considering the complexity of the phenomenon of motherhood itself, studies are dealing with its various aspects: from the emotional and psychological well-being of migrant mothers, to their attitude regarding the routine tasks of child care or the interaction with social services. In our article, we tried to identify some criteria that would make it possible to classify the research. The complexity of the phenomenon, its dependency on the factor of culture, usage of various method designs by the researchers greatly complicate this task. However, in our opinion, the grounds for classification may be: the subject (or direction) of the research, survey methodology, respondents’ demographic characteristics, features of migration processes (forced/voluntary migration; remote (transnational)/direct motherhood; successful/unsuccessful migration) and other. In addition, the design of research dealing with Ukrainian migrant mothers should include assessing the possible impact of a potential psycho-traumatic experience on her mothering and study the ways of psychological assistance to reduce the negative consequences of that experience.