Becoming a mother, a life transition

Ramona Thieme Mercer, an American nurse born in 1929, devoted more than thirty years of her professional career to the study of the complex phenomenon of “becoming a mother.” Her theory published in 1995 describes and explains the process of identity transition for women who become mothers during pregnancy and the first year postpartum.

This article presents the basic elements of this theory, which is based on research carried out in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century. Mercer studied the process of becoming a mother in different parental situations: heterosexual couples (married or unmarried), single mothers, and adolescents. She also took an interest in lesbian couples where one woman is the biological mother, since they have to face strong social discrimination and a more hostile environment. The theory is based on multiple sources of inspiration and concerns pre-, peri-, and postnatal care. Using a clinical example, we use the theoretical model updated by Mercer in 2003 to analyze the four stages of the process of becoming a mother described by the author.