Below you will find the answers to:
- What is matrescence and who created this term?
- Why is this term important to our work at Kindred?
- How is the concept of matrescence expanded by the science of our Evolved Nest?
- How Kindred World was birthed through the founder’s experience of Matrescence.
What is Matrescence?
Matrescence is a term first coined by medical anthropologist Dana Raphael in the 1970s at Teachers College, Columbia University to describe the profound transformation a woman undergoes in becoming a mother. Observing how new mothers were culturally overlooked and often medically pathologized, Raphael introduced the term to name what she saw as a rite of passage—a shift in identity, status, emotional life, daily activity, and social relationships. Her work called attention to the way mothers were often erased in both care systems and cultural narratives.
Decades later, Dr. Aurélie Athan, a clinical psychologist and scholar also based at Teachers College, Columbia University, revived and expanded the concept in response to a similar erasure within developmental psychology, which lacked a framework for understanding adult women’s growth through motherhood. Athan adopted Raphael’s term to describe the psychological, moral, spiritual, and identity development she witnessed in new mothers, framing matrescence as a lifelong, whole-person transformation akin to adolescence.
Today, matrescence is understood as more than a biological or emotional adjustment. Matrescence is a complex developmental and relational process. It often brings about changes in values, purpose, ecological awareness, and social consciousness, unfolding in the context of larger systems such as patriarchy, capitalism, and ecological crisis.
By naming matrescence, both Raphael and Athan sought to make the mother visible—not just as a caregiver, but as a full, evolving human being. Recognizing this passage helps normalize the disorientation, sensitivity, and growth that many experience in early motherhood, and offers a compassionate, culturally relevant framework for transformation.
Kindred thanks Allie Davis, PhD, for contributing the definition of Matrescence above. Read Allie on Kindred.
Discover more about Matrescence at www.Matrescence.org.
Why is “Matrescence” Important to Our Nonprofit Work?
At Kindred, we are exploring the evolutionary, communal nest needed to support mothers, allomothers, alloparents, allonurturers. Allomothers, and the communal support they offer, is one of our nine components of our Evolved Nest. Below you will find the definition of matrescence AND how it relates and integrates into our evolutionary pathway to wellbeing, our Evolved Nest.
Ultimately, the science of the Evolved Nest broadens the understanding of matrescence from an individual challenge to a collective developmental process, deeply embedded in our species’ evolutionary history. The science of our Evolved Nest reveals that the crisis of modern motherhood is not personal failure but cultural neglect—and that healing begins with restoring our evolutionary inheritance of communal caregiving.
Kindred World’s (our parent nonprofit) mission and vision is to reimagine humanity through the holistic, integrative science of our Evolved Nest and the relational intelligence of our indigenous, Kinship Worldview. We have been vision holders for a Wisdom-based, Wellness-informed World since 1997.
Visit the Evolved Nest’s Learning Center here and download a Worldview Chart here. Learn more about Kindred World’s nonprofit initiatives here.
Kindred Magazine, the Evolved Nest Initiative, and the Worldview Literacy Project are all initiatives of Kindred World.
Read Darcia Narvaez’s work on Kindred Magazine.
Read more on matrescence on Kindred:
Kindred World Founder’s Mother (of a) Quest: The Backstory
Re-Mothering Mythology: Healing the Lineage of Medicine
Rooted in Care: Reimagining Motherhood Through the Wisdom of the Earth
The Evolved Nest and Matrescence
The science of the Evolved Nest, as developed by Dr. Darcia Narvaez, provides a biological and cultural framework for understanding matrescence—the developmental transition a person undergoes in becoming a mother. Both concepts highlight the deep transformation involved in nurturing and how social structures support it.
Here’s how the Evolved Nest supports the understanding of matrescence:
EVERYONE DEVELOPS THROUGHOUT LIFE—AND MATRESCENCE IS A KEY STAGE.
- Evolved Nest insight: Human development doesn’t stop in childhood. The Evolved Nest emphasizes how optimal development requires welcoming communal support across the lifespan, plus all the other aspects of humanity’s evolved nest. Nestedness is species-appropriate nurturing.
- Matrescence connection: Becoming a mother involves neurobiological, psychological, social, and spiritual changes. Like babyhood and adolescence, matrescence is a major identity transition. The Evolved Nest situates this transformation within a relational and developmental continuum.
THE MOTHER’S (AND NURTURER’S) BRAIN IS NEUROBIOLOGICALLY PLASTIC, PREPARING FOR NURTURING OTHERS.
- Evolved Nest insight: Nested care in early life optimizes brain development. The right-brain is scheduled to grow more rapidly in early life and is the seat of self-regulation, empathy, emotional and social intelligence. The adult brain is somewhat malleable. In mothers and fathers, it changes in ways making it more responsive to the needs of the young.
- Matrescence connection: Pregnancy, birth, and early parenting reshape the brain, especially in areas related to empathy, emotion regulation, and motivation. The Evolved Nest underscores the biological preparedness for these shifts—and the vulnerability when they are unsupported.
Support Systems Are Essential—Not Optional.
- Evolved Nest insight: The “nest” has at least nine components, including a welcoming community, soothing perinatal experiences, multiple responsive caregivers, affectionate touch (no negative touch), child-directed breastfeeding for several years, self-directed free play, nature connection, and restorative healing practices. These evolved over millions of years and are species normal.
- Matrescence connection: Modern societies often isolate new mothers, depriving them of allomothers and allonurturance (shared caregiving). This result is unnecessary maternal stress and child developmental undercare during a time that, evolutionarily, demands communal support.
Cultural Context Shapes the Experience.
- Evolved Nest insight: Culture and experience co-construct the developing mind. An anti-nurturing, unsupportive culture fragments the caregiving brain and impairs maternal instincts and maternal and child well-being.
- Matrescence connection: In patriarchal and industrialized cultures, the matrescent person is often devalued, pressured to “bounce back,” and is unsupported emotionally and socially. The Evolved Nest reframes communal caregiving as a sacred, central, and evolutionarily vital role.
Evolutionary and Modern Norms are Mismatched.
- Evolved Nest insight: There’s a mismatch between evolved expectations and modern practices. Lack of nest expericne in early life is associated with dysregulation, insecurity, and ill-being.
- Matrescence connection: New mothers today often experience burnout, anxiety, and identity crises because their needs—as matrescent individuals—are not met by modern systems. The Evolved Nest identifies the cultural and ecological mismatch at the root of this crisis.
Re-Nesting Offers Healing to Mothers.
- Evolved Nest insight: Re-nesting in adulthood (e.g., through therapy, community, self-care, and interdependence) can restore self-regulation and well-being.
- Matrescence connection: The Evolved Nest framework empowers mothers to reclaim the community as part of their support system. Restorative healing practices offers a regenerative developmental path that acknowledges their needs, allowing them to re-mother themselves with support, and thereby heal intergenerational trauma as they nurture the next generation.
Conclusion
The science of the Evolved Nest broadens the understanding of matrescence from an individual challenge to a collective developmental process, deeply embedded in our species’ evolutionary history. It reveals that the crisis of modern motherhood is not personal failure but cultural neglect—and that healing begins with restoring our evolutionary inheritance of communal caregiving in the evolved nest.
Created with help from AI and humans.
Did You Know? Kindred World’s Founding was Inspired by Matrescence?
Lisa Reagan’s founder’s story, titled A Mother (of a) Quest, exemplifies matrescence—a term describing the profound transformation a woman undergoes as she becomes a mother, akin to adolescence in its depth and complexity. Her narrative, as detailed on Kindred Media, reflects the multifaceted journey of identity, purpose, and worldview that characterizes matrescence.
In her twenties, Reagan pursued a career in communications while grappling with chronic illness and depression. This period of her life was marked by a deep search for meaning and understanding, leading her to consult various healthcare professionals and healers. Through this introspective journey, she recognized that her sensitivities were not flaws but indicators of her need for self-nurturing in a culture that often devalues such traits.
The birth of her child served as a catalyst for further transformation. Motherhood prompted Reagan to reevaluate societal norms and the prevailing cultural narratives around parenting and wellness. This introspection led her to establish Kindred World, a nonprofit organization, dedicated to exploring and promoting a wisdom-based, wellness-informed society. Her work emphasizes the importance of worldview literacy and the need to shift from a dominator culture to one rooted in kinship and interconnectedness.
Reagan’s journey mirrors the essence of matrescence: a continuous evolution of self that encompasses personal healing, the embracing of new roles, and the challenging of societal constructs. Her story underscores how motherhood can be a profound impetus for personal growth and societal change, embodying the transformative power inherent in the matrescent experience.
You are invited to witness the journey of Lisa’s Mother (of a) Quest on Kindred Magazine with over 20 years of interviews, posts, podcasts, and films.
Did you know?
The leading cause of death in new mothers in America is suicide.
Out of 193 countries, the U.S. is the only high-income country without a national paid leave policy for mothers or fathers.
Data from New America shows anything less than 25 weeks of leave doesn’t meet basic maternal or infant needs.
UNICEF recommends six months of leave for all parents to help with children’s development and to strengthen that parental bond.
Research by Steinhardt’s Natalie Brito suggests that infants whose mothers received paid family leave showed greater brain activity in their first three months.
Currently, only 23 percent of all employed workers in the US have access to paid parental leave through their employers.
Image at the top of the page is from Adobe by Melinda Nagy.
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