A COMPARISON OF PARENTAL ATTITUDE PERCEPTIONS IN CHILDREN OF WORKING AND NONWORKING MOTHERS

Abstract

The differences between the perceptions of parental attitudes in children of working and nonworking mothers and whether gender influences parental attitude perceptions were investigated. A General Information Form and the Bronfrenner Parents' Attitude Scale (in Turkish; Güneysu, 1982) were used. The data obtained were evaluated with t tests and Pearson correlation tests. Results indicate that the work status of mothers has a significant impact on the parental perception of their children, in particular how loving or punishing children perceive their parents to be (p < .001). Children of working mothers view their parents as more loving and less punishing compared to children of nonworking mothers. It was also found that gender impacts on perceptions of parents as punishing (p < .05). Girls scored higher than boys in perceiving both their mothers and fathers as punishing (p < .05). Moreover, a positive and significant relationship between the perceptions of mothers and fathers was observed (p < .001). In other words, children who perceive their mothers as loving perceive their fathers as loving, and children who perceive their mothers as punishing view their fathers the same way.