Affects and strategies of maternal optimism: The accounts of mothers with experiences of anxiety and/or depression

Mary, Sophie M., Dunnett, Susan, Morgan, Tessa, Coughlan, Barry and Duschinsky, Robbie (2026) Affects and strategies of maternal optimism: The accounts of mothers with experiences of anxiety and/or depression. Sociology. ISSN 1469-8684

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Abstract

This article draws on the critical feminist argument that women are encouraged to desire forms of life that are limiting and sometimes cruel. It asks: what can we learn about motherhood if we view it not simply as a set of normative practices, but as an assemblage of projections and negotiations about what life could and ought to be? To address this question, we analyse the accounts of 15 mothers with experiences of anxiety and/or depression. We move beyond the idea that mothers’ difficult affects stem (merely) from failing to meet societal expectations of ‘good mothering’. Instead, we argue that what wounds them is (also) the impossibility of achieving a feminine good life, or the cruelty of that good life, once achieved. Considering motherhood in this way helps explain why and when norms might be appealing and locate the source of mothers’ difficult affects more precisely.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Open Access. Copyright © 2026 by BSA Publications Ltd.
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman > Gender R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA790 Mental Health H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman > Relationships
Divisions:	School of Business and Social Sciences > Staff Research and Publications
Depositing User:	Tamara Malone
Date Deposited:	01 May 2026 08:41
Last Modified:	01 May 2026 08:41
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/9295

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