Responsive parenting and children's social-emotional skills in early years : preliminary findings from a low-income sample
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Date
2023
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Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences, 2023.
Abstract
Children need emotional support and cognitive stimulation by caregivers to grow, learn and adjust to social life. The main aim of the present study was to examine the relations among maternal depression, responsive parenting behaviors and children’s social-emotional outcomes (i.e., social competence, regulatory problems, externalizing behaviors) during toddlerhood. Poverty poses the greatest risk to the development of young children and challenges parenting in many ways. A sample of 88 low-income mothers with toddlers between 24-31 months of age were recruited through Family Counseling Centers of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Mothers filled out a demographic form, the Brief Infant-Toddler Social- Emotional Assessment (Briggs-Gowan & Carter, 2006), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983). The mother-child interaction was also video recorded during a shared reading activity and maternal behaviors were coded by the scale of Observation of Mother-Child Interaction (OMCI) (Rasheed & Yousafzai, 2015). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that socio-economic status of (SES) families significantly predicted child dysregulation in contrast to responsive parenting behaviors. Besides, SES predicted both responsive parenting domains. Child dysregulation was positively associated with maternal depression, and negatively with emotional support of mothers. Parenting did not mediate the relation between maternal depression and child outcomes.