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Giving Birth to Meaning: Understanding Parenthood Through the Psychology of Meaning in Life

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Pathways and Barriers to Parenthood

Abstract

In a long list of qualities that make us “uniquely human,” our capacity and urge to seek after an ultimate, abstract meaning for our lives surely must take a position near the top. Perhaps another entry might be our propensity to look for resources to help us understand our role as parent, learn how to be better at performing this role, and purchase books and gadgets that promise to make it all easier. Although there are large scholarly literatures on both meaning in life and on parenthood, there are surprisingly few entries that address both. We review this niche of literature and argue that viewing parenthood as an existential matter may yield new insights into the profound impact of parenting—or trying to become a parent—has in people’s lives. We present examples of a variety of parenthood domains and tasks conceptualized through a meaning in life lens and identify some of the difficulties people may encounter along the path of parenthood. We elucidate how the challenges and successes inherent in parenting experiences might contribute to or detract from the meaning people derive from parenting in addition to ways in which parenting may add to people’s overall sense of their lives as meaningful.

Ah, babies! They’re more than just adorable little creatures on whom you can blame your farts. Like most people who have had one baby, I am an expert on everything and will tell you, unsolicited, how to raise your kid!

—Tina Fey

Marge, don’t discourage the boy! Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It’s what separates us from the animals! Except the weasel.

—Homer Simpson

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Meaning and Purpose, Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Jessica L. Morse & Michael F. Steger

  2. Optentia Research Programme, North-West University, Vanderbijklpark, South Africa

    Michael F. Steger

Authors
  1. Jessica L. Morse
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  2. Michael F. Steger
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Correspondence to Michael F. Steger .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Orit Taubman – Ben-Ari

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Morse, J.L., Steger, M.F. (2019). Giving Birth to Meaning: Understanding Parenthood Through the Psychology of Meaning in Life. In: Taubman – Ben-Ari, O. (eds) Pathways and Barriers to Parenthood. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24864-2_1

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