Contextual Ghosts in the Nursery: Systemic Influences on Sensitive Maternal Responsiveness in a Low to Middle Income Country

The influence of trauma on parenting behavior and “sensitive responsiveness” is well documented. However, these trauma experiences are often conceptualized on an individual, historical and intergenerational level, rather than a systemic level. In this study, eight South African mothers, who were residing in a Johannesburg Township and raising at least one child under the age of six, were interviewed about their parenting practices. The interviews were analyzed using a combination of a psychoanalytically informed interpretive analysis and a social constructionist analysis. Using this approach, the author attempted to develop a contextually-based understanding of current parenting practices within this setting. Across the interviews, three prominent contextual factors were seen to consciously and unconsciously impact parenting practices, namely threats to safety, poverty, and loss or absent parents. These contextual factors were found to play a role in hypervigilance, maternal control and intrusiveness, and dismissiveness in parent-infant interactions. On the back of these findings, the importance of considering contextual trauma when engaging in infant mental health theory, research, and interventions with similar populations, is briefly discussed.