Psychological Factors Differentiating Unwed Mothers Keeping Their Babies from Those Placing Them for Adoption

Abstract

The study focused on possible psychological variables which could differentiate unwed mothers keeping their babies from those placing them for adoption when certain pragmatic, sociological variables were kept constant. These psychological variables were derived from a model constructed on the basis of psychoanalytic writing on the genesis of unwed pregnancy. Three hypotheses generated from this model were tested, viz. that unwed mothers who kept their babies would have poorer feminine identification; greater hostility toward their own mothers; and greater object needs than unwed mothers who released their babies for adoption. The Thematic Apperception Test was used to investigate these hypotheses. The experimental group consisted of 15 unwed mothers who had decided to keep their babies. These were compared with a control group of 12 unwed mothers who had decided to place their babies for adoption. The experimental and control groups were matched on a number of sociological variables. The results supported the above hypotheses. The applicability of these results were discussed.