Evaluation of the parental attitudes, parental competency and attachment styles of the mothers of the children at pre-school period who were admitted to child psychiatry

Objective: In this study we aimed to evaluate attitudes, attachment styles to their husbands and competence perceptions of the mothers towards their children's problems whose children were at pre-school period with no cognitive developmental delay. Method: Fourty children and their mothers were included into the study. The children were chosen among those who were aged between 0-72 months and had no developmental delay which was found out as a result of developmental test. As the control group, another 40 children and their mothers were included into the study. Child Adjustment and Parent Efficacy Scale (CAPES-TR) and Parent Attitude Research Instrument (PARI) were handed out to mothers in both groups. Finally, Experiences in Close Relationship Revised (ECC-R) was applied to mothers of both groups. SPSS20 was used for statistical analysis. Results: According to CAPES-TR results, emotional, behavioural and social problems in the group that were admitted to psychiatry clinic were higher than control group (p<0.05). According to same scale, mothers' self-confidence was found significantly lower (p<0.05). According to PARI results, the score of the group that applied to clinic for over-motherhood reasons was found higher (p<0.05). Likewise, authoritative attitude score was found higher in patient group (p<0.05). Discussion: The results of this study share similarities with other studies which found out that parental child-rearing attitude presents a risk factor for behavioural problems among children.