From Mutual Pretense Awareness to Open Awareness

Single Pregnant Women's Public Encounters in an Irish Context

Bibliographic Data

ID4611643
AuthorsAbbey Hyde (0000-0002-9040-2024, University College Dublin, corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume8
Issue5
Pages634-643
Publication date1998-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Health Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/104973239800800505
OpenAlexW2125429051
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited5

Based on qualitative interviews with 51 single pregnant women, this article explores how participants negotiated encounters in public in an Irish context. It is argued that tensions in some encounters that women experienced exhibited features of the phenomenon defined as mutual pretense awareness, first identified by Glaser and Strauss in their work on dying. As in Glaser and Strauss's work, mutual pretense awareness often gave way to open awareness, particularly toward the end of the gestation period when the state of pregnancy became highly visible. The shift from mutual pretense awareness to open awareness had implications for women's mental health status insofar as openness about the pregnancy served to moderate stress levels associated with some public interactions. Goffman's conceptualization of stigma mediates the analysis, where the management of information and tension is significant in negotiating encounters

Conceptualization · Developmental psychology · Irish · Openness to experience · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Psychology · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Social Psychology

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