محمد اصغری

Objective: Unmanaged stress during parenthood can lead to poor performance of the family and inappropriate parenting in general. Therefore, it is necessary to identify optimal methods of dealing with stress. Methods:  The present qualitative study was based on a grounded theory approach. The population included women (living in Tehran in 2021), who were satisfied with their lives and had at least one 6-year old child. After the initial investigation, from among 51 women, 11 women whose level of satisfaction with life was above the mean were selected through purposive sampling method. The research instrument included Diener's (1985) Satisfaction with Life scale and semi-structured interviews. The data obtained from the interview were analyzed through Strauss and Corbin’s method. Results: The qualitative analysis of the interviews showed that satisfied women used strategies, such as preventing the spread of the problem, changing the situation, self-empowerment in processing negative emotions, communication activism, educational activism, conscious problem solving, and seeking professional help to deal with their maternal stress. The central factors included not giving up, solving the problem and activism to solve it. The causal factors included worrying about child's developmental delay/ developmental disorders, financial pressure, and role density/ role conflict. The underlying factors included agreement or disagreement in spouses' training methods, dynamism and activism, modeling and gaining experience, persistence and perseverance, feeling self-inefficiency in training, realism/ perfectionism, mother's independent personality/ feeling lonely, and living in the present time/ worrying about the future. The intervening factors included unwanted pregnancy/ spouse’ unwillingness to have children, perceiving the ineffectiveness of the efforts, comparing the growth of peers, worrying about providing facilities for the child's growth, and weakness in emotional regulation/ depression. The facilitating factors included the calmness of the child, the mother's personal space and recreation, the support of the spouse and families, and the mother's openness to experience. Finally, the consequences of coping with maternal stress included managing the emotions of the mother and the child, the child's taking responsibility, the enrichment of the marital relationship, the intimate relationship/ acceptance, and parents’ acceptance of the child and their companionship. Conclusion: The results of the current study can be the basis for future studies. It can also assist formulating educational and therapeutic programs aimed at dealing with the stress caused by the birth of the first child.

Since time immemorial, due to its metaphysically grounded perspective, western philosophy has not been able to detach itself from the egoistic outlook, and thus, the interaction with the "other” had no role in this philosophy. The world has always been interpreted from the perspective of "self" ignoring the "other". Reviewing this mode of thought from Ancient Greece to Modern Age, one can reveal a kind of repression and forgetfulness of "alterity" and difference which Levinas has well highlighted in his philosophy. The very foundation of this egoism can be traced back to the Socratic slogan "know yourself”. In the same spirit, a kind of self-centered moral philosophy has been developed, the clear example of which is Kant's ethics. In line with Hegelian tradition of recognition, contemporary thinkers have redefined ethics and politics and acknowledged the constitutional dependence of the “self” on the "other." Based on the coordinates of their thought as well as the historical condition of their own time in the formation of subjectivity, these thinkers have criticized the neglect of the “other”. Hegel's role in underlining the importance of the vital status of the “other” is unique. Hegel bridges all post-Hegelian currents on the concept of “Other”. Then, in the present essay, we seek to show that since Hegel’s time up to Derrida, we have been witness to the rise of “Other” and the fall of “Self”.