LE3 .A278 2015

2015

Frank, Lesley

Acadia University

Master of Arts

Masters

Sociology

Sociology

This thesis presents results from a qualitative sociological study on how we understand mothering in father–daughter incest cases from the standpoint of helping professionals. To complete this research, six helping professionals in Nova Scotia participated in semi-structured interviews; the data was then analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis process. The findings show that helping professionals’ stories of their work do reveal mothering roles that are particular to father–daughter incest. Two primary protector roles were identified: 1) the role to protect the child, and 2) the role to protect the family structure. Helping professionals also identified the challenges mothers experience in successfully fulfilling these roles, as well as the strain experienced when trying to reconcile these two, often conflicting, roles of protection. The thesis discusses such roles in relation to sociological strain theory and how wider structural relations related to patriarchy and social class shape the mother’s experience.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:401