Mercer, Ramona T., a nursing theorist who developed the Maternal Role Attainment model presented in her book First-Time Motherhood: Experiences from Teens to Forties (1986). Maternal role attainment is an interactional and developmental process. It occurs over a period during which the mother becomes attached to her infant, acquires competence in the care-giving tasks, and expresses pleasure and gratification in her role. The focus of Mercer’s work went beyond the concept of the “traditional” mother to encompass a variety of mothering roles, maternal age, health status, family functioning, mother-father relationship, and infant characteristics. Mercer considers a mate’s love, support, and nurturance to be important factors in enabling a woman to mother her child.
