My child and his siblings: women’s experience of first maternity in Chilean stepfamilies

This qualitative study shows the perception of a group of Chilean women aged between 29 and 39 years regarding their experience of having their first child when they are members of a simple stepfamily. Sixteen women, whose partners maintain active contact with their child(ren) born in previous relationships were interviewed. Results confirm the existence of a process of “becoming a mother” and its course depends on stepchildren’s presence. In addition our more relevant findings show that the specific topics of fears and motivations of having a child depend on the particular stepfamilycontext, and women’s experiences is that this process vary according to the perceived quality of stepmother/stepchildren relationships.