Guilt Trip Down the Road of Motherhood

The present qualitative research conceptualises interpersonal guilt among working mothers within the landscape of social support. Working mothers (N=15) from Surat city in Gujarat, India, participated in In-depth interviews. Thematic analysis was performed using ATLAS.ti. Antecedents (triggering situations), consequences (actions and emotions) and beliefs were examined for conceptualising interpersonal guilt along with social support agents (Informal and Formal). Our results indicate that interpersonal guilt among working mothers involves self-imposed high standards set by a working mother directed towards herself, based on irrational beliefs including negative selfevaluation, disturbed emotional states, inconsistent social support by formal and informal social agents and remaining unavailable to satisfy the socially established grounds for raising an optimally functional progeny.