Jena 2007 Bm
Transcript of Jena 2007 Bm
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MATERNAL EMPLOYMENTMATERNAL EMPLOYMENTAND ITS IMPACT ON CHILDAND ITS IMPACT ON CHILD--
MOTHER RELATIONSHIPMOTHER RELATIONSHIP
BiranBiran MertanMertan
EasternEastern MediterraneanMediterranean UniversityUniversity
NorthernNorthern CyprusCyprus
XIIIth European Conference on Developmental Psychology
University of Jena, 21-25 August 2007
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ABSTRACT Maternal employment and the psychological consequences due to institutionalised child-care has been
the topic of continuous controversy in the industialised countries for many decades. Recent rapid
socioeconomic and cultural changes in North Cyprus have led to changes in family structure, with adecrease in the number of children and increase in the number of working mothers. As a result, morecollective day care centers/day nurseries and other related services have been created for preschoolchildren while their parents are away at work. However, the traditional form of care for under two yearsold is more like parent care than professional collective care.
Different societies often have different perceptions about children, childhood and the purpose of earlychild care. In this current research the following questions will be explored.
Do childrens differing experiences of early childhood care affect child-mother relationships?
Do childrens differing experiences of early childhood care affect their social and emotional development?
How does maternal anxiety influence child development?
The participants were mothers of 192 children whose ages varied between 12-64 months with a mean of
39.43 and a Standard deviation of 12.58 months. Mothers were selected and recruited by using thesnowball technique. The mothers were given the self-administered questionnaire comprised ofdemographic information, child rearing practices, living arrangements, social environment, Babys Testand the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The sample was divided into two subgroups according to earlychi ldhood care during the f irst 18 months of l ife: famil ial care (by the mother and by matenal or paternalgrandparents) and non-familial care (by a nanny/babysitter or day care center).
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Overview
Studies on child rearing
practices
and non-
parental care
mainly from theWestern
industrialized
countries.
Outcome
Maternal employment
Non-parental childcare Poor quality of day-carecenter
Poor quality of family day-care
Attachment profile of thechild
Theageat whichnon-parentalcarestarts
The time spent per week in non-parental care
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Early experience has long-lasting effectsthat are nearly impossible to overcome.
Quality of non-parental care was the mostinfluential variable of social development.
How about other societies?Like elsewhere, in North Cyprus, the
effect of maternal employment on childdevelopment is becoming an intriguing
question
Popularized Hypotheses
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The goal of the present study is twofold:
to establish whether the Turkish Cypriot family environment
encourages different child-care practices. to explore whether maternal employment status, familial
support, and the mother's related behavior towards the childinfluences the child's development in a Turkish Cypriotsample
Questions Do childrens differing experiences of early childhood care
affect child-mother relationships?
Do childrens differing experiences of early childhood careaffect their social and emotional development?
How does maternal anxiety influence child development?
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Participants DemographicDemographicInformationInformation
The participants were
mothers of 192 toddlerswhose ages variedbetween 12 and 64 monthswith a mean of 39.40 and astandard deviation of
12.58 months. The average age of
mothers was 30.64 rangingfrom 20 to 46 years (SD =
4.32). The average age for
fathers was 34.55 rangingfrom 25 to 51 years (SD =5.09).
Both groups of employed mothers
and mothers at home group haveequal years of formal schooling. Inthe same way the fathers educationdoes not differ according to mothersemployement status.
Both the mothers at home and theemployed mothers were married atthe same age (mean 23 yearsSD=4.43).
All children were born to termwithout serious medicalcomplications, and were two-parenttraditional nuclear families in types.
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The criticalvariables were
the employment status of
the mother
the daily social interaction
with grand-parents
the stability of the child
care
the anxiety level of themother
The questionnaire was designed
in three sections:
The demographicinformation section,
The Babys Day Test (Letest de la journe de bb,Balleyguier, 1979), whichwas previously adapted for
the Turkish Cypriotsample,
The STAI-The State-TraitAnxiety Inventory Section.
TestInstrument
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Procedure
Mothers were selected and recruited
by using the snowball technique.
Two meetings with mothers werescheduled approximately within a
week after the initial meeting. After a brief overview of the study
the mothers were initially given theself-administered part of the Babys
Test with 139 structured questionsand the STAI Inventory.
These parts could be completed atthe mothers convenience.
BabysDay
Test
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Results and Discussion
To address the first question raised in the current study, that is, to
explore whether the Turkish Cypriot family environmentencourages differential childcare practices, data was submitted tothe following analyses:
In the first instance of the profile of the sample in relation to thedaily social interaction with grand-parents indicated that there isno significant difference in relation to mothers employmentstatus.
Regardless as to whether mothers were employed or not, on adaily basis, they have social interaction with their own parentssuch; as having a meal together, bring/taking back the child(42.9 % of mothers at home and 47.1 % employed mothers group
respectively).
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Residence
Young Turkish Cypriotparents prefer to live ina house with a garden(52.4%) rather than in
an apartment. Amongthese young parents,the choice of living inthe same building with
close relatives i.e.parents, sisters,brothers is 32.3 %.
GRAND-
PARENT
S
UNCLE
AUNT
TURKISH CYPRIOTTURKISH CYPRIOT
FAMILY STRUCTUREFAMILY STRUCTURE
MODELMODEL
E. FAMILY
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The Results Showed That...
A majority of children (58.1%), who had early familial care, were currently in non-familial care practices (X2 = 6.62, p
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Comparison of child scalesaccording to stability of child care
A Autonomy
Pr Toilet Training
SM Submission to Mother
AgM Aggression towards
Mother
IM Imitation of Mother
AM Affect towards Mother
Scales
p
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Results As can be seen from the table, only two
of the six scales reached statistical
significance related with the differencesbetween mean for the contuinity offamilial care and non-familial care.
The two scales that showedsignificant difference, were thechilds autonomy and acquisition oftoilet training. Children entirelybrought up in theirfamily are lessautonomous and less toilet trainedthan those in non-familial caresetting.
The two scales that showed a statist ical
significance were the affect towardsmother and submission to mother.
In employed mothers group thechildren showed sigif icantly moreaffection and submission than theirpeers in the full-time mothersgroup.
Mothers who left their chi ld with
non-family care showed more bondweakening and were moreconcerned with the education of thechild. However these mothers were also
less interested in toilet training thanthose in the stable family care group.
The mothers affection scaleshowed significant differencesaccording to maternal employmentstatus.
Employed mothers weresignificantly more affectionateand more sensitive thanmothers at home regarding thedevelopment of their children.
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Comparison of environmental subscales
according to stability of child care
MP Toilet Training byMother
RL Bond Weakening
MF Mothers Sensitivity
Max Mothers Anxiety
ME Education Given by
Mother
MR Mother's Rigidity
MA Mothers Affection
Scales
p
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Comparison of child scales accordingto the maternal employment status
42.42
8.96
25.13
7.38
14.60
22.46
Employedmothers
43.40
9.23
23.47
6.95
13.61
21.05
Mothers athome
A Autonomy
Pr Toilet Training
SM Submission to
Mother
AgM Aggression
towards Mother
IM Imitation of Mother
AM Affect towards
Mother
Scales
NS.90
NS.48
p
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Comparison of environmental scales according
to the maternal employment status
MP Toilet Training byMother
RL Bond Weakening
MF Mothers Sensitivity
Max Mothers Anxiety
ME Education Given by
Mother
MR Mother's Rigidity
MA Mothers Affection
Scales
NS.595.194.87
NS1.539.6710.52
p
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Conclusion
The findings, of the present research, show that
The Turkish Cypriot families with vastpreference to family care indeed organizedifferent childcare practices compared toindustrialised societies in the West .
FamilialFamilial CareCare evidently plays a significant role onchilds autonomous behavior and the acquisit ionof toilet training.
Children whose mothers were employed
showed, higher affectionate behavior thanchildren whose mothers were at home. Theschildren were also showed more submissivebehavior to the mother.
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Finally
To what extent are child rearingpractices influenced by social
and contextual variables?
At least, for the Turkish Cypriot
sample, the claim here is that
continous and stable familialsupport enhances childs
development.