Social connectedness and mothering: Effects of maternal employment and maternal absence.

We conducted two separate studies to test N. Chodorow's (1978) theory concerning the relationship between mothering and social connectedness, that is, a sense of self in relation to others. In two correlational studies, we examined the effects of maternal employment and maternal absence (because of death or divorce) on young adults' social connectedness, as measured by the Interpersonal Orientation (IO) Scale (W. C. Swap and J. Z. Rubin; see record 1983-22471-001). Although differences in maternal employment were not related to IO, maternal absence was related to IO. Daughters whose mothers had been absent since the daughters' early childhood rated themselves lowest on IO; this was especially true of daughters who did not report having a mother substitute. This finding provides support for Chodorow's theory because it documents a predicted sex difference, a predicted effect of "mothering" versus "fathering," and a predicted difference between early (i.e., preoedipal) and later absence. Future empirical work on moderators of child-rearing experience is warranted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)