Document Type : Research/Original/Regular

Authors

• Zohreh Hashemi ¹
• Ava Azimian Moghaddam ²
• Samereh Asadi Majareh ³

¹ Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran.

² Bachelor in Psychology, Psychology Department, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran.

³ Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran

Abstract

Currently, the corona pandemic can be one of the major health problems in Iran and around the world, and the resulting home quarantine, family, and relationships between families have been affected. Determining the subjective relationship between mothers' awareness and self-efficacy with parent-child switching during quarantine life was all corona choices. The statistical population of the study included all mothers with children aged 6 to 12 years in Rasht in the February of 2021 , from which 205 people were selected by available method and the Freiburg Mindfulness Scale (FMI-S). ) Completed the Dumka Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale (PSAM), the Mother-Child Relationship Scale (MCRE). Data were analyzed using SPSS 24.'s Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise regression. The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between parents' mindfulness and mother-child relationship (P<0/01), and the results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between parents' mindfulness and mother-child relationship (P<0/01). Finally, the analysis of available data showed that the relationship between parents' mindfulness and self-efficacy with the mother-child relationship is positive and significant. Parental awareness and self-efficacy play a significant role in explaining the mother-child relationship (P<0/01). The results of the present study have practical implications for psychologists and family counselors and by improving the level of mindfulness and self-efficacy of mothers, the quality of parent-child relationships can be improved.

Highlights

The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between mothers' mindfulness and self-efficacy with parent-child interactions during the quarantine period of the corona virus epidemic. The first finding of the research showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between mindfulness and the mother-child relationship, and a high score in mindfulness is associated with a high level of mother-child interaction. The connection of mind-consciousness with all dimensions of mother-child interaction is meaningful except for communication (dialogue and listening). The relationship between mothers' awareness and parent-child interactions is positive and meaningful. This finding is consistent with the research results of Pourheidari, Duncan et al. (2009) and Potartes et al. (2020). In explaining this finding, it can be mentioned that parents' mindfulness affects children's wellbeing and happiness (Bagheri, Tahmasbian, and Mazaheri, 2017) and parents' parenting methods (Yaqub Nejad, Afrooz, Arjamandania, &  Ghobari Bonab, 2018). The skill of mindfulness and mindful parenting improves the ability to self-regulate and manage negative emotions, including anger. Mindfulness is an effortful form of thinking that can have a positive effect on the effectiveness of parenting by reducing child-parent conflict, facilitating more sincere communication and reducing the conflict of conflicts created between parents or children (Julai et al, 2017). Parents who have high mindfulness ability pay full attention to the interactions, thoughts and feelings of themselves and their children and receive these feelings more correctly, which in turn reduces conflict and disagreement (Harwas and Lee, 2015). Parents who have high levels of mindfulness, experience less tension (Malveiro, 2013). In the conditions of the corona virus epidemic and home quarantine, this reduction in stress, makes parents better able to understand the needs of their children, to provide them with emotional support.

  The findings did not show a significant relationship between the mother's mindfulness scores and the communication component (conversation), which is in agreement with the results of the few previous studies in this field is asymmetrical (Pourheidari, Basaknejad, Davoudi and Mehrabizadeh Artman, 2016; Potarts, 2020). Since mindful parenting through mechanisms such as listening with full attention, acceptance without judgment, compassion, self-regulation and emotional awareness, leads to parentchild relationship and, as a result, increasing psychological well-being in children. (Bagheri et al, 2017), it was expected that this finding would be obtained in the conditions of corona epidemic and home quarantine, but this finding was not consistent with previous studies. The reason for this disparity can be factors such as cultural differences, social factors such as the level of social support, the socio-economic level of the family and even characteristics such as the mother's temperament. On the other hand, it can be acknowledged that in the conditions of home quarantine, the responsibility of mothers at home has increased and the stress of parents has increased, and in these conditions, mothers' mind-awareness and focus on themselves can lead to neglecting communication (Be with children). Another finding of the research showed that the relationship between mothers' self-efficacy and mother-child interaction is positive and significant, and a high score in parental self-efficacy is associated with a high level of motherchild interaction. The relationship between parents' self-efficacy and the dimensions of mother-child interaction is significant, except in the dimensions of assimilation. This finding, was consistent with the research results of Bahadri (2016) and Gambin et al. (2020). Gambin reported the role of positive experiences including: empathy, emotion regulation, self-efficacy and social support of parents on parentchild relationships during the quarantine of all corona epidemics (Gambin et al, 2020). Also, Maghribi Sinki et al.(2014) found in their study, those mothers who had weaker self-efficacy showed less sensitivity and were weaker during parent-child interaction and in fact, in communicating with their child. On the other hand, mothers who felt more and stronger self-efficacy in their parental role, established warm, intimate and regular relationships with their children. In explaining this finding, it can be said that mothers who feel self-efficacy in their parenting role, They have warm and regular relationships with their children, and on the contrary, mothers who feel ineffective have problems in their relationship with their children (Cotronzo, 2006). However, the mother's input affects the child's development in some way, and the child's characteristics are the direct consequences of the mother-child interaction and the communication characteristics of the parents and their self-efficacy. The lower levels of parents' self-efficacy make them more inclined to use negative methods in raising their children and to benefit less from treatment programs and services provided for their children and also in making decisions about The most appropriate treatment strategies for the child fail. This has negative effects on the child's growth and leads to more destructive behaviors (Maghribi Sinki et al, 2016). In fact, parents who set less strict rules with their children and had more positive behaviors and interactions with their children had higher selfefficacy. On the other hand, people with weaker self-efficacy are more likely to communicate with their children in an aggressive and hostile manner, and they rejected their children most of the time (Tranzo, 2006).

   The results of the regression analysis showed that the role of parents' mindfulness and self-efficacy is significant in explaining the mother-child relationship, and all predictor variables explain 80% of the changes in the mother-child interaction: (1)The mother's awareness leads to attention, interest and being available to the child and creates a constructive and supportive interaction between the child and the mother. (2) The mother's awareness leads to an increase in the emotional awareness of the mother and her non-judgment towards the child. During the quarantine period of the corona virus, the mother's awareness can be effective in reducing the tension experienced by the mother during the quarantine period and lead to improved interaction (become mother and child). In addition, mothers who have high self-efficacy are better able to establish a constructive relationship with their children, have empathy with their children and have positive and supportive behavior towards their children, therefore, this structure also plays a decisive role in explaining mother-child interaction. Mindfulness and self-efficacy of mothers are able to positively predict mother-child interaction and have important research and clinical implications for psychologists and counselors active in the field of family and child to improve parent-child interactions. The limitations of the present study are the selection of people in an accessible and nonrandom way, which is of course due to the conditions of the corona virus epidemic, which suggests that in future similar studies, the selection of people should be done randomly.  Also, the lack of control of demographic variables such as the socio-economic status of the family was another limitation of the research; because due to the conditions of the corona virus epidemic, it was not possible to select a homogeneous sample in terms of demographic characteristics. Therefore, it is suggested to take these cases into consideration in future similar studies to reveal new patterns of correlations.

Keywords

• Corona
• mindfulness
• self-efficacy
• mother-child interaction

20.1001.1.23452692.1401.10.4.1.6

Main Subjects

• parenting