refrigerator mother
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English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
refrigerator mother (plural refrigerator mothers)
- (psychology, dated, idiomatic, derogatory) An emotionally frigid mother, who does not exhibit normal care or love for her child or children.
- 1979 April 7, Helen Kohl, “The Strange Ones" Autism can be brought into our world”, in Montreal Gazette, Canada, retrieved 18 November 2012:
- It was not until 1943 that Dr. Leo Kanner, an American pschiatrist, first diagnosed the syndrome in 11 children. . . . Kanner and others once postulated that these children were the products of "refrigerator mothers," women who are overly cold and intellectual.
Usage notes
- Usually used in the context of the now discredited belief that the attitude and behavior of such mothers causes autism or schizophrenia in offspring.
References
- “refrigerator mom”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.