Ajay Malhotra, Archna Sharma, Sanju Bala
BACKGROUND It stresses that the mother’s reaction plays an important role in moulding the behaviour of a child. Mothering styles affect the behaviour of the children and less time spent with children can lead to abnormal behaviour in children. Lot of research had been carried out regarding parenting styles and outcomes in children, but very scanty research is available regarding parental knowledge and child outcome. With changing scenario in India, and with more women working in offices and other areas, quality time spent between mothers and children is gradually decreasing which has both negative and positive effects on children. While children of working women may be self-sufficient, they may suffer from bad experiences. MATERIALS AND METHODS Keeping in mind this fact of changing scenario of socio-economic status of Hisar, a study was planned to compare the behavioural problems among children of working and non-working women. The population for the study included approximately fifty school children whose mothers are working and fifty children whose mothers are non-working within age range of 6-10 years. Instruments which were used were a structured interview schedule to assess demographic proforma. Behavioural problems assessment rating scale. (CBCL) by ACHENBACH. RESULTS Collected data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Demographic variables were assessed using frequency and percentage. Behavioural problems were analysed using mean and standard deviation. t test was used to analyse the association of the level of behavioural problems with the selected demographic variables of the samples like- working/nonworking women. Comparing the total raw score of children of working and non-working women on child behaviour check list, it was clear that children of working women score high in the scales compared to non-working women which was statically significant. CONCLUSION Children of working mothers differ significantly from those of non-working mothers on all dimensions of behavioural problems like cognitive, physical, emotional, social and moral.
