Mothers with the experience of parental separation in childhood, their self-compassion and coping with the unpleasant emotions of their children

Avtorica v magistrskem delu raziskuje, ali ločitev staršev v otroštvu vpliva na načine spoprijemanja staršev z neprijetnimi čustvi otrok in na sočutje do sebe. Zanimali sta jo tudi povezava med sočutjem do sebe in načini spoprijemanja ter povezava teh dveh dimenzij z zadovoljstvom. Teoretični del osvetljuje področje čustvovanja, načine spoprijemanja z neprijetnimi čustvi otrok, moč starševstva, sočutje do sebe in temo ločitve kot travmatične izkušnje. Empirični del v obliki kvantitativne raziskave, v kateri je sodelovalo 224 mater, je namenjen analizi rezultatov in dobljenim ugotovitvam. Uporabljeni so bili Vprašalnik o spoprijemanju z negativnimi čustvi otrok (Fabes in drugi 2002), Lestvica sočutja do sebe (Neff 2003a), Lestvica zadovoljstva z življenjem (Diener in drugi 1985) in Lestvica zadovoljstva v zakonu oziroma partnerskem odnosu (Schumm in drugi 1986). Prva in druga ugotovitev ne prikazujeta, da je ločitev staršev v otroštvu negativno vplivala na spoprijemanje mater z neprijetnimi čustvi svojih otrok in na razvoj sočutja do sebe. Izkazala pa se je povezava med več dimenzijami sočutja do sebe in dimenzijami načinov spoprijemanja z neprijetnimi čustvi otrok. To pomeni, da matere, ki so do sebe sočutnejše in prijaznejše, v večji meri spodbujajo izražanje čustev in manj pogosto uporabljajo nepodporne načine spoprijemanja z otrokovimi neprijetnimi čustvi, kot so kaznovanje, ignoriranje, razvrednotenje čustev in zmanjševanje problemov. Neprijetna čustva otroka pa tudi redkeje izzovejo stresni odziv matere oziroma jo spravijo v stisko. Analiza podatkov je pokazala, da so matere, ki so s svojim življenjem in zakonom oziroma partnerskim odnosom zadovoljnejše, do sebe sočutnejše in se na otrokova neprijetna čustva odzivajo na bolj podporne načine, medtem ko ločitev staršev v otroštvu mater na njihovo zadovoljstvo ni pomembno vplivala.In the master\u27s thesis, the author investigates whether the parental separation in childhood affects the ways in which parents deal with children\u27s unpleasant emotions and self-compassion. She was also interested in the connection between self-compassion and ways of coping, and the connection between these two dimensions and satisfaction. The theoretical part sheds light on the field of emotion, ways of coping with children’s unpleasant emotions, the power of parenthood, self-compassion, and the topic of separation as a traumatic experience. The empirical part in the form of a quantitative research, in which 224 mothers participated, is intended for the analysis of the results and the obtained findings. The Coping with Children\u27s Negative Emotions Scale (Fabes, Poulin, Eisenberg and Madden-Derdich 2002), the Self-Compassion Scale (Neff 2003a), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al. 1985) and the Marital (Partnership) Satisfaction Scale (Schumm et al. 1986) were used. The first and second findings do not show that separation of parents in childhood negatively affected mothers’ coping with their children’s unpleasant emotions and the development of self-compassion. However, the connection between several dimensions of self-compassion and the dimensions of ways of coping with children\u27s unpleasant emotions has been shown. This means that mothers who are more compassionate and kinder to themselves are more encouraged to express emotions and less often resort to unsupportive ways of dealing with their child’s unpleasant emotions, such as punishing, ignoring, devaluing emotions, and reducing problems. They also seldom provoke the mother\u27s stress response or put her in distress. The analysis of the data showed that mothers who are more satisfied with their lives and with the marriage or partnership, are more compassionate towards themselves and responding to the child’s unpleasant emotions in more supportive ways. While parental separation in the mother’s childhood did not significantly affect their satisfaction