Negotiating “Impossible” Ideals: Latent Classes of Intensive Mothering in the United States

The primary goal of this study is to identify patterns in the ways mothers adhere to, reject, and combine intensive mothering attitudes behaviors. Mothers often face immense pressure devote significant physical mental effort toward childrearing, referred as mothering. At same time, many do not follow actions or beliefs that gender norms suggest they should. It remains unclear how holistically approach parenting across different facets. Using 2014 Child Development Supplement from Panel Study Income Dynamics, I examined a sample fell into profiles, latent classes, class membership varied by demographic characteristics. Results showed four underlying classes motherhood: Relaxed (33 percent), High Investors (25 Essentialist (22 Strained (20 percent). No group was all measures, contrary common narratives previous research theory. Class several characteristics, including education, age, income, race, single parenthood, employment. By revealing are selectively intensive, expands on simultaneously “do” “undo” their parenting, well sociodemographics may predict these patterns.