Dialogical Self and the Changing Body During the Transition to Motherhood

This article explores the transition to first-time motherhood and focuses on the analysis of integration in the self-system of a new I-position – the maternal one. This dialogical interchange between dynamically related I-positions (I-as-pregnant and I-as-mother) is the arena where the personal affective core of the self and the sociocultural background of social role demands are intertwined. During pregnancy and childbirth, the I-as-pregnant...