Social and emotional development of turkish cypriot children and caregiving style

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 are 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.

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Child Development ,

Employed Mothers ,

Child Care ,