• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.35-69
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• 2014

This study was conducted to explore initial motherhood experience of non-married mothers who decided to raise their babies. We applied Rennie's hermeneutic grounded theory for this study in which 7 non-married mothers participated. 9 hermeneutic categories which are 'decision to give birth', 'feeling of hitting bottom', 'ambivalence toward a life in stomach', 'realization of motherhood', 'motherhood anxiety', 'the bridle of social tag', 'hope of motherhood', 'encounter with new self' and 'visage of weary life' were constructed based on 145 meaning units, 34 subordinate categories. The core category that integrates motherhood experiences of participants was postulated as living with two conflicting visages of motherhood which are a cure and a poison at the same time. Motherhood experience processes were emerged in five stages which are decision to give birth, psychological frustration, realization of motherhood, confusion, and hope and discouragement of motherhood. Three types of motherhood experience were analyzed in the study which are adaptative, conflictive, and resistant. Based on the result of the study, the motherhood experience of non-married mother who decided to raise their babies are the process of emergence of new identity called mother. The non-married mothers formed their motherhood identities as they internalize socioculturally granted motherhood ideology. Moreover, the gap between socially oriented motherhood and realistic role of motherhood led to confusion. Based on this study, we suggest intervention plans to the field of social welfare practice that will support initial motherhood of non-married mothers who decided to keep their babies.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.18 no.3 s.47
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• pp.71-84
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to analyze the structure of maternal experiences. This study applies ethnographic case study, interview data were collected through in-depth interviews of 10 key interviewees. Findings were as follows: (1) Experiences of the body were about creating a new being through the pain of giving a birth and differed according to woman's self-evaluation of identity. (2) Child-rearing experiences marked a shift of position from a child to a parent. Interviewees experienced the hardhsip of life as a mother, its meanings differed according to the social context of interviewees. Child-rearing experiences meant a process of personal maturity. (3) Mother-child relationship shaped by child-rearing experiences, is a process of building meanings. It led to empathy and reinterpretation of her mother's life.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1002-1009
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• 2019

Early life stress (ELS) increases the risk of depression. ELS may be involved in the susceptibility to subsequent stress exposure during adulthood. We investigated whether epigenetic mechanisms of p11 promoter affect the vulnerability to chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) induced by the maternal separation (MS). Mice pups were separated from their dams (3 hr/day from P1-P21). When the pups reached adulthood, we applied CUS (daily for 3 weeks). The levels of hippocampal p11 expression were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR. The levels of acetylated and methylated histone H3 at p11 promoter were measured by chromatin immunoprecipitation. Depression-like behavior was measured by the forced swimming test (FST). The MS and CUS group exhibited significant decreases in p11 mRNA level and the MS plus CUS group had a greater reduction in this level than the CUS group. The MS plus CUS group also resulted in greater reduction in H3 acetylation than the CUS group. This reduction was associated with an upregulation of histone deacetylase 5. Additionally, the MS plus CUS group showed a greater decrease in H3K4met3 level and a greater increase in H3K27 met3 level than the CUS group. Consistent with the reduction of p11 expression, the MS plus CUS group displayed longer immobility times in the FST compared to the control group. Mice exposed to MS followed by CUS had much greater epigenetic alterations in the hippocampus compared to adult mice that only experienced CUS. ELS can exacerbate the effect of stress exposure during adulthood through histone modification of p11 gene.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.91-100
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• 2004

Objectives：The effects of repeated maternal separation on the expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) in the hippocampus of rat pups at preweanling stage were evaluated. Methods：The experimental, Repeated Maternal Separation group(N=4) was separated from the mother for four hours a day over a period of ten days beginning with postnatal day 4. The Control group(N=4), on the other hand, did not separated from the mother at all. GR and COX-2 expression in the hippocampus was examined by immunohistochemistry on postnatal day 14. Results：It was determined that the number of GR-immunopositive cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus was significantly increased in the Repeated Maternal Separation group. The numbers of COX-2-immunopositive cells in the CA1 and CA3 were also significantly higher in the Repeated Maternal Separation group. Conclusion：These results suggest that maternal separation may be a significant developmental stress that induces GR and COX-2 expression in the hippocampus of developing pups.