The Internalized Other: Identity Change Over the Course of Pregnancy

Abstract

<p>This study investigates identity changes in pregnant women over the course of their first pregnancy, utilizing the Twenty Statements Test, as well as other interview data. It showed that pregnancy doss have a substantial effect upon a women's self identity; that their identity changes most significantly in the second trimester; and that the period of pregnancy was not generally utilized to redefine herself as mother and her husband as father to any great extent. The findings are integrated in terms of the symbolic interactionist perspective in sociology, with particular reference to self-other theory.</p>