Abstract
This study explores the scope of maternal guilt and its emotion regulation among mothers from diverse cultures to assist helping professionals in providing psychoeducation and counseling to mothers who experience guilt regarding their children and mothering. In this qualitative study, 11 mothers participated in cognitive interviews to develop the maternal guilt scale. Data from semistructured interviews were examined using thematic analysis. Four themes related to mothers’ experiences of guilt emerged from the data: (1) maintaining a sense of identity outside of children, (2) good enough mother discourse, (3) refraining from social competition, and (4) social support. The results of this study can be used to help professionals working with mothers by implementing emotion regulation skills for maternal guilt, as described in the implications section of the article. This study explores guilt in connection with emotion regulation strategies mothers can use to cope with guilt. This research showed that mothers’ guilt is tied to worries, which are affected by social comparison, specifically through social media.
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