Social and emotional development of Turkish Cypriot children and caregiving style.

Abstract

Since the number of employed mothers has steadily increased in Northern Cyprus, the need for non-parental caregiving has also increased. The lack of adequate numbers of childcare centres, and the widespread belief that children under the age of three ore more loved and better tended by family members and close relatives, have led to the involvement of a greater number of grandparents as caretakers during daytime.

The aim of the present research is to investigate parental behavior towards children and toddler's reactions towards their parents as reported by Turkish Cypriot parents. The sample consists of 68 children whose ages vary between 12 and 36 months. The instrument used in the data collection is the "Baby's Day Test" (Balleyguier, 1979); adapted from French to Turkish by Mertan (1995; 1997) with computerized scoring. The results showed that maternal employment has some impact on children's social and emotional development.

Key words: Child development, employed mothers, child care

Ozet

Bircok ulkede aldugu gibi Kuzey Kibris'ta da calisan annelerin yogun ve giderek artan bir bicimde is dunyasinda yer almalariyla, kres ve gunduz bakim evlerine olan gereksinim de artmistir. Okuloncesi egitim merkezleri konusunda gelismekte olan Kuzey Kibris'ta yeterli sayida kres ve gunduz bakim merkezlerinin bulunmamasi, ayrica 3 yas alti cocuklarin, yakin aile bireyleri ve/veya yakin akrabalar tarafindan daha fazla ilgi ve sevgiyle buyutulebilecegi inancinin buyuk bir cogunluk tarafindan benimsenmesi, bakici-buyukanne sayisinin yayginlasmasina neden olmustur.

Bu arastirmanin amaci, aileler tarafindan rapor edildigi uzere, siralama donemine (toddlerhood) giren cocuklarin ailelerine karsi tepkileri ve ailelerin cocuklarina karsi davranislarini incelemektir. Gerek sosyal cevre ozelliklerinin, gerekse cocugun sosyal ve duygusal davranislarinin olculmesinde Cocuk Gunlugu Testi (Balleyguier, 1979) kullanilmistir. Arastirmada yaslari 12 ile 36 ay arasinda degisen toplam 68 denek kullanilmistir.