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Tuesday, March 23, 1999 Published at 21:39 GMT

Health

The seven types of motherhood

There are seven different types of mother

There are seven different types of mother, a study by the Family Planning Association has found.

The FPA report has found that women are motivated to have children by a variety of reasons.

These depend on factors such as age, social status and family history.

A woman's reasons for getting pregnant may change with each child they have, depending on her lifestyle and circumstances, the research found.

The FPA interviewed more than 100 mothers in England about their reasons for getting pregnant.

Mothers in the city of Birmingham, the smaller town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire and the village of East Derham, Hertfordshire, were questioned.

The seven types of mother are:

Motivational mothers: Women who use pregnancy as a way of manipulating their lives. In some cases they may use pregnancy as a way of keeping their partner.

Most motivational mothers have just one child because there is a one-off reason for getting pregnant, although they may have other children for different reasons.

Historical mothers: Women who often come from large families for whom pregnancy is a common and natural feature of life.

Daughters will often follow their mother's example, for instance in having children early in life.

Historical mothers tend to have a number of children and prioritise their offspring above all else.

Pregnancy is not seen as a "choice" but as something that is expected and simply happens as a force of nature.

Natural mothers: These women are similar to historical mothers, but their tendency to pregnancy is driven by a relationship rather than their family history.

Natural mothers see children as a part and parcel of being in a steady relationship, owning a house and having a steady income.

They see "unintended" pregnancies only as those conceived outside a relationship, and like historical mothers are anti-abortion.

Lifestyle mothers: These women are usually wealthier, educated women who see pregnancy as a well-planned event, fitting in with qualifications, career, marriage and house-buying.

They have precise ideas about when they want to get pregnant and are very careful with contraception to ensure the "pregnancy plan" does not go awry.

But lifestyle mothers can often hear the ticking of their biological clock if they reach the end of their child-bearing years and the financial and career plans are not perfect.

Lifestyle mothers are also more likely to undergo sterilisation once they have had the requisite number of children.

Relationship-driven mothers: Women whose driving force behind getting pregnant is their relationship with their partner.

They differ from natural mothers in that they want a more planned pregnancy.

They see children as part of the development of a relationship and an important part of a woman's life.

Laissez-faire mothers: Women who are more likely to become pregnant unintentionally.

They do not relate sex to conception and forget to take the Pill or are generally lax when it comes to contraception.

They often feel they are powerless to stop things happening to them and are sceptical about how contraception can help them control their fertility.

Laissez-faire mothers are likely to have more than one "mistake".

No choice mothers: Women who become pregnant against their wishes, for instance by being raped or due to contraceptive failure.

Some cannot face a termination and others feel they "deserve" their fate because they have been out having a good time and the pregnancy is somehow penance.

No choice mothers usually only had one unintended pregnancy.

Women need more support

[ image: Women have many different reasons for getting pregnant]
Women have many different reasons for getting pregnant
A spokeswoman for the FPA said: "This shows that women still don't have the information and the access to services they need.

"For instance, laissez-faire mothers could be given more information about contraception. And perhaps no choice mothers, who are anti-abortion, could benefit from better access to emergency contraception like the morning-after pill.

"It also shows that unintended pregnancies can be reduced in number but will never be completely prevented because women have children for such a variety of different reasons."

She added: "This is not simply about having or not having children but about timing, space between pregnancies and the number of children women have."