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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.