"She was feeling overwhelmed at home caring for her children": expectations of "intensive motherhood" as a risk factor for young women's suicide

Harriet Townsend

doi:10.1177/10778012241265365

"She was feeling overwhelmed at home caring for her children": expectations of "intensive motherhood" as a risk factor for young women's suicide

Harriet Townsend^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

8 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Suicide is a leading cause of death among young women and are perinatal mothers. This paper explores how expectations of motherhood played a role in young women's deaths by suicide. I question the notion that motherhood is a “protective” factor against suicide. Using the concept of “intensive motherhood,” I interrogate how expectations of mothers became fatal. Through analysis of 31 young Australian mothers who died by suicide, three key themes are explored, centered upon the theme of “failing motherhood”: mothering without a father, mothering with mental illness, and the loss of care of children.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2803-2829
Number of pages	27
Journal	Violence Against Women
Volume	31
Issue number	11
Early online date	23 Jul 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012241265365
Publication status	Published - Sept 2025

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2024. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

gender
motherhood
suicidal femininity
suicide

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10.1177/10778012241265365

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 310 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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"She was feeling overwhelmed at home caring for her children": expectations of "intensive motherhood" as a risk factor for young women's suicide

Abstract

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