Abstract
This study was concerned with both positive and negative elements of Japanese mothers' sense of separation from their children. Four elements relevant to the separation were identified: anxiety about the child, acknowledgment of mother's importance, loneliness, and acceptance of separation. Influences on these elements included the traditional concepts of child-rearing, the father's awareness of mother-child separation, and the child's shyness. A traditional concept of child rearing proved to be more influential than the child's shyness, suggesting that social factors can have a greater impact than the individual characteristics of a child. The association between the mother's sense of separation and stress about child rearing was also discussed. Anxiety about the child had strong and positive effects on child rearing stress, whereas acknowledgment of the mother's importance has an inverse relationship to stress, which suggests that acknowledgment of the mother's importance is a positive aspect of maternal sense of separation. These results also indicate that there are essential factors for the independent development of mothers if they are not to be overwhelmed by the role of caregiver.
