Psychological well-being of parents and (non) adaptive functioning of preschool children

Prvi cilj ovog istraživanja bio je utvrditi zastupljenost internaliziranih i eksternaliziranih problema kod predškolske djece različite dobi i spola, i to prema viđenju majki i odgojiteljica, osoba s kojima su djeca u svakodnevnoj interakciji. Drugi je cilj bio ispitati na koji su način dječja internalizirana i eksternalizirana ponašanja povezana s dimenzijama majčine psihološke dobrobiti. Podaci o dječjim ponašanjima prikupljeni su od 183 majke djece predškolske dobi (M=34 god), i 24 odgojiteljice ciljne djece. Iste majke pitalo se i nekoliko pitanja o njihovim sociodemografskim podacima te psihološkoj dobrobiti. Korišteni instrumenti su: Skala procjene ponašanja predškolske djece: verzija za roditelje, i verzija za odgojitelje (CBCL 11⁄2 -5 i C-TRF), Ryff skale psihološke dobrobiti i Upitnik općih podataka za roditelje. Dobiveni rezultati pokazuju da majke ne uočavaju spolne razlike u razinama problema djece predškolske dobi, dok odgojiteljice zapažaju spolne razlike samo na skali eksternaliziranih problema, pri čemu dječaci manifestiraju značajno više simptoma. Dobne razlike postoje gotovo na svim skalama CBCL-a i C-TRF-a; majke za mlađu djecu procjenjuju značajno više problema na eksternaliziranoj i ukupnoj skali, dok odgojiteljice zapažaju značajno manje problema u starijoj dobnoj skupini na svim skalama. Utvrđena je pozitivna, umjerena povezanost procjena majki i odgojiteljica, a majke su procijenile značajno više problema kod djece u odnosu na odgojiteljice. Što se tiče povezanosti dimenzija majčine psihološke dobrobiti s dimenzijama dječjeg ponašanja, pokazala se negativna povezanost dimenzija Svrhe u životu, Ovladavanja okolinom i Pozitivnih odnosa s dimezijama dječjih ponašanja. Majčina psihološka dobrobit doprinosi malo, ali značajno dječjem adaptivnom funkcioniranju.First aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of internalized and externalized problems in the population of preschool children of different ages and sexes. The information concerning the prevalence of these two types of problems was acquired via mothers and caregivers - two groups of people that the children interacted with on a daily basis. The second aim was to examine the ways in which children's internalized and externalized behaviors were associated with the dimensions of maternal psychological well-being. The data concerning the children's behavior was collected from 183 mothers of preschool children (M =34 years), and 24 caregivers. The mothers were also asked several questions concerning sociodemographic information and psychological well-being. The following instruments were used: Child-Behavior Checklist for Ages 11⁄2 -5 and Caregiver-Teacher Report Form, Ryff scales of psychological well-being and general information questionnaire for parents. The results show that mothers do not perceive any gender differences in levels of problems in preschool children, while caregivers observed sex differences in the occurrence of externalized problems. According to caregivers, boys manifest significantly more symptoms. Age differences exist in almost all scales of CBCL and C - TRF. Mothers of younger children report significantly more problems on the externalized and overall scales. Furthermore, caregivers report significantly more problems on all scales for younger children. There is a positive, moderate correlation between the data acquired from the mothers and the caregivers. Mothers reported significantly more problems in relation to caregivers. Concerning the connection between maternal psychological well-being and child's behavior, a negative correlation was observed for the dimensions Purpose in life, Environmental mastery and Positive relations with others. Mother's psychological well-being shows a slight but significant contribution to the children's adaptive functioning