ABSTRACT

2.1.7  Concept and nature of working mother’s interaction and emotional development of the nursery school child                      45

4.3    Discussion of Findings of the Study                                                                        104

CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1        Summary       116

5.2        Conclusion    116

5.3        Educational Implications of the Study                                                                     119

5.4        Recommendations                                                                                                    121

5.5        Limitations of the Study                                                                                          123

5.6        Suggestions for Further Study                                                                                 125

REFERENCES                                                                                                               127

APPENDICES                                                                                                                137

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1    BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

In Nigeria, more and more women are joining the workforce than ever before. The Forum of African Women Education (FAWE, 2014) reported that by 2011, more than half (57%) of women 15 – 60 years old were in one form of employment or the other. As the number of women grows, so also is the number of challenges they face. According to Bianchi (2016), these challenges depend on the family of the working mother, type or nature of work, age of working mothers, number of children and income level. Figes (2011) argued that there are a number of negative emotional effects which a child may suffer because of lack of interaction between mother and child as a result of mother’s employment. Personal experience of the researcher showed that such children are estranged from their mothers; they find it difficult to open up to them and when they do they are not able to express themselves well.

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The effect of this frustration may lead the children to develop negative attitude and which could make perceive the mother’s work as a source of distress to the family (Bianchi, 2016). Personal experience showed that mothers who consider their work as stressful and bring this home may wear out the children emotionally. This is because the mother may start sounding aggressive to the children. This ugly situation has generated the concerns of parents, teachers, curriculum experts and evaluators; especially it is believed that if the problem of poor interaction between working mothers and their children is left unresolved, it would affect the emotional development of the children and consequently the economic and technological development of the nation.

However, when mothers decide to work in order to earn a living, it may affect the emotional development of the child. Rogers (2011) defined working-mothers or mothers in employment as women who are mothers and also work outside the home for income in addition to work performed in the home in raising their children. Erring, Akpan and Echogu (2014) defined working mothers as women who engage in white collar jobs in order to support their families. Dabiri (2010) defined working mothers as young women who are engaged in vocation and acquisition of skills outside their immediate homes. This definition captures the population whose children would be the target group for this study; this is women who do full-time jobs in addition to their family work. Some of these working mothers are professionals such as lawyers, accountants, teachers and health personnel, who work for personal and financial advancement. A working mother may operationally be defined as a woman with a child or children who work outside the home in addition to her domestic duties in order to earn a living and support the family.

When one shows love, anger, depression, or withdrawal from others, one is expressing emotions. Emotion can be seen as an agitation or excitement, a stirred up state or condition of the entire body, which involves the various physiological changes which may be experienced as pleasantness or unpleasantness. Uzoka and Mpamah (2013) defined emotion as a strong feeling of high intensity expressed as a physical response to a particular stimulus in terms of pleasantness or unpleasantness. Myers (2014) defined emotion as a complex state of feeling resulting in physical and physiological changes which influence our behaviour.

There are two types of emotion namely: pleasant and unpleasant emotions. Pleasant emotions are expressed as joy, love, affection, happiness and so on, while unpleasant emotions include anger, hate, disgust, fear, jealousy and so on.

Pleasant emotions may enhance growth and development and bring good mental health in individuals, including the nursery school child, while unpleasant emotions like anger, worry, and hatred, furry and so on may impede or inhibit growth and development, learning and good mental health of such a child (Nnodum, 2011). Some of the emotions expressed by people, including the nursery school children are called basic emotions and inherited, while other emotions are acquired during the process of growth and development. The basic or unlearned emotions are love, fear, and rage/anger; while disgust, sympathy, jealousy, compassion are acquired later in life (Ebenebe & Unachukwu cited in Uzoka, 2018). These learned or acquired emotions improve as the individual matures and interacts within the environment. as a result of emotional development.

Emotional development is a process by which human beings are able to acknowledge and recognize the emotions of others, develop empathy, make good decision, establish friendships and handle changes or situations effectively (Campos, Frankel & Comras, 2014). Cohen (2015) defined emotional development as the ability to experience, express and manage emotion in a particular manner. The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (NSCDC, 2014) expanded the concept of emotional development as it relates to oneself and others. It stated that emotional development includes the ability to identify and understand one’s own feelings to accurately read and comprehend emotions in a constructive way, to regulate one’s own behaviour, develop empathy for others and to establish and maintain relationship.

Emotional development of the nursery school child focuses on helping the child to gain knowledge about feelings and getting along with others (Marion, 2011). The emotional development of the child could be guided by mothers and significant others such as early childhood care-givers that may have strong impact on the child. Baber (2012) reported that children observe and model the emotions of other people in their environment. Adults’ emotions may give the child the ideas about which situations evoke certain emotions. Children learn from observing adult behaviour that accompanied their emotions. Children learn how to use language and express their feelings by interacting with mothers, care-givers and other children. Saarmi (2016) stated that though nursery school children between the ages of one to four are able to use language in a limited manner, they can still communicate to parents or other care-givers about how they feel. A smile on the face of a nursery school child indicates that the child is happy and a caring mother or care-giver is attracted to find out details (Campos, Frankel & Camras, 2014). This type of mother –child interaction brings attachment between the child and the mother.

Efforts have been made by both government and researchers on strategies to be adopted to ensure that the emotional development of children of working mothers is not negatively affected. Erring, Akpan and Echogu (2014) recommended that nursing mothers be granted nine months of maternity leave so they can spend more quality time with the children. Recommendation was also made by Sewani (2012) that working mothers should spend more quality time with their children and that as they return from office, their first priority should be to sit with their children; either playing with them or listening to them attentively. However, Hodas (2010) reported that these working mothers after the day’s work return to do the whole house chores; adding that such working mothers may receive less from their husbands. Hodas added that even those husbands who are gender sensitive may not do more than one-third of the couple’s household chores.; thereby leaving the rest to the working mothers. It may stand to reason that the above recommended strategies on how to ensure that the emotional development of children of working mothers is not negatively affected may sound interesting, but the problem of poor emotional development of nursery school children in federal and state universities in South-East, Nigeria continues to persist.

Literature reports from Western Europe tend to suggest that working mothers- child interaction patterns have the potentials of correlating with emotional development of children at early stage of life. Ogbu (2011) defined interaction as a structured, dynamic process relating to interconnectedness of things. Mother- child interaction is the relationship between mother and child cemented by variables such as kissing, hugging, touching, carrying and caring for the child by the mother. Thus, the mother is always in constant touch with the child. This relationship between the mother and the child gives rise to attachment between the mother and the child. According to Taylor, Pepplau and Sears (2017), attachment is a strong emotional bond which an infant attaches to a significant person in his or her life. In this context, the infant responds positively to the person, feels better when he or she is close to the person and seeks him or her out when frightened. Landy (2011) indicated that mother and child interaction serves as the foundation for emotional development of the child. Gabriel (2015) added that mother-child interaction promotes psychological development, maximizes emotional development and increases the child’s overall intellectual capacity.

Nanda (2017) indicated that mother –child interaction is reflected in authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and disengaged relationships. Each of these types of interaction may reflect on the emotional development of the child. Nanda (2017) maintained that the authoritarian mother- child interaction is mechanical. It is devoid of feelings and emotions; it is a relationship where the mother demands absolute obedience from the child without recourse to why or reason for the behaviour. Nanda (2017) noted that children raised with this type of relationship are often moody, unhappy, fearful and irritable. The authoritative mother-child relationship recognizes the individualism of the child and shows respect for the child by allowing him to be different. Negotiation may be allowed in the relationship by not forcing decisions down the throat of the child. This type of mother -child interaction often results in children who have high self-esteem and are independent, inquisitive, happy and assertive.

The permissive mother -child interaction reflects a master-servant relationship, where the child is now the master and the mother the servant. The child demands and gets whatever he/she wants and where there is a rule/rules the child decides the rule to follow and to what extent. Such children are disrespectful, disobedient, aggressive, irresponsible and defiant. The disengaged mother-child relationship according to Nanda (2017) is where the mother is neither responsive nor demanding. She may be careless or unaware of the child’s need for affection and discipline. Where such a situation exists, the child may grow up as detached and can have a higher number of psychological and behavioural issues like shyness and bullying. For better mother- child interaction Nanda (2017) suggests that mothers should be more involved, get at the level of the children, and think the way they think, guide them through and be fair, firm and friendly.

In like manner, Shvedovkaya and Archova (2015) demonstrated the relationship of mental, social, emotional, and personal behavioural development to particular patterns/styles of mother/parent child interaction. They modeled four patterns of mother/ child interaction as well as the peculiar results on the child. The authors listed the Authoritarian style as where there is low level of responsiveness and high “demandingness” on the part of the mother or parent; thus resulting in discontent, anxiety, and withdrawal on the part of the child. For Authoritative relationship, the authors stated that there is both high levels of responsiveness and ‘demandingness” resulting in the child being assertive, happy and self-reliant. For permissive style of interaction according to Shvedovkaya and Archova (2015), the mothers/ parents show high responsiveness and low level of ‘demandingness’ in order to avoid conflict with the child, with the result that the child is aggressive, have low self-esteem and low self-reliance. Finally, for what the authors termed “uninvolved” pattern, the parent/mother is both low on responsiveness and ‘demandingness”, allowing the child to develop his/her own way. Shvedovkaya and Archova (2015) pointed out that the child will exhibit poor self-control and low self-esteem.

Shvedovkaya and Archova (2015) stressed the need for mother-child interaction and advised that mothers should find suitable jobs that save time and energy as well as provide the required financial assistance, name and fame. However, in the Nigerian context this type of job may be difficult to come by. However, most jobs by the end of the day leave mothers tired and therefore a mother who most times returns from work tired and stressed will not have much time to relate with the child or children. Where this happens on a sustained basis it will affect the emotional development of the child.

In discussing the correlation between working mother-child interaction and emotional development of nursery school children, the influence of gender of the children could be very imperative. Gender is the social and psychological aspects of being female or male; it includes a person’s understanding of the meaning to his own life of being a male or a female (Halpern-Felsher, 2012). Attributes of masculinity and femininity are also considered in talking about gender. Qualities such as assertiveness, bravery, independence, strength, rationality and dominance are attributed to the male gender while the qualities of nurturing, warmth, gentility, emotionality, caring and sensitivity are attributed to the female gender (Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2014). Maduewesi in Adogu (2013) reported that while boys and girls come from poor families, it is the girl that poverty forces out of school; they may both have to work, but that of the girl is limited to the confines of the home; restricting her experiences and social network while the boy works outside, expanding his horizon, experiences and social network. Ngwoke and Numonde (2013) reported that this discrimination tend to predispose the females to some poor emotional development which may lead to maladaptive behaviours like prostitution, drug and alcohol abuse, school drop-out, academic failure among others. Following these inconsistencies, this work seeks to contribute in resolving this controversy on gender as it affects working mother- child interaction patterns and emotional development. The finding of the study may reveal which gender of the Nursery School Children would be affected by the interaction patterns more. This study is motivated by the need to find the extent to which working mother-child interaction patterns could correlate with the emotional development or the ability to experience, express and manage emotions in a positive way among nursery school children in federal and state universities in South East, Nigeria.

1.1    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

African Tradition places more of child care in the hands of the mother, while it is the responsibility of the father to provide for the mother and the child. Thus, the mother after giving birth to the child observes the “omugwo” for six months, which is the period the nursing mother compulsorily stays with the child in other to take care of him or her. The mother at this period bathes the child, carries him or her on her knees, suckles or breastfeeds the child, changes diapers and even sings the child to sleep. These activities afford the mother opportunities to interact with the child twenty-four hours each day. The mother is thus always available to attend to the needs of the child directly and not in any way by proxy. Even when the mother begins to step out for the farm or market, she laps the baby on her back to wherever she goes thus being in touch or close contact with the child. This process builds confidence and a strong emotional attachment in the child that the mother is always available and willing to come to his or her assistance when needed.

Nowadays as a result of job mothers stay with the child for only three months of maternity leave after which the child is sent to day care and subsequently to nursery school. As a result mother-child interaction suffers and the child may develop a negative attitude and could perceive the mother work as a source of distress. The mother on her part may adopt any of the four patterns of interaction as a result of job stress. This ugly situation has generated the concerns of parents, teachers, curriculum experts and evaluators; especially it is believed that if the problem of poor interaction between working mothers and their children is left unresolved, it would affect the emotional development of the children and consequently the economic and technological development of the nation.

Efforts have been made by both government and researchers on strategies to be adopted to ensure that the emotional development of children of working mothers is not negatively affected but the recommended strategies on how to ensure that the emotional development of children of working mothers have not yielded satisfactory results since the problem of poor emotional development of nursery school children in federal and state universities in South-East, Nigeria continues to persist. Literature reports from Western Europe tend to suggest that working mothers-child interaction patterns have the potentials of correlating with emotional development of children at early stage of life. The extent working mother-child interaction patterns could correlate with emotional development of children in Nigerian environment is yet to be investigated. The problem of this study therefore put in a question form is: What is the extent of correlation between working mother-child interaction patterns and emotional development of nursery school children in Federal and State University nursery schools in South-East Nigeria?

1.3        PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of this study was to determine the extent of correlation between working mother-child interaction patterns and emotional development of nursery school children in Federal and State University nursery schools in South-East Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to:

1              Find out the extent of correlation between working mother-child’s authoritarian interaction pattern and emotional development of Nursery School Children.

2              Find out the extent of correlation between working mother-child’s authoritative interaction pattern and emotional development of Nursery School Children.

3              Ascertain the extent of relationship between working mother-child’s permissive interaction pattern and emotional development of Nursery School Children.

4              Find out the extent of relationship between working mother-child’s disengaged interaction pattern and emotional development of Nursery School Children.

5              Determine the extent of correlation between working mother-child’s interaction patterns (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and disengaged) and emotional development of Nursery School Children.

6              Find out the extent of relationship between working mother-child interaction patterns and extent of emotional development of Nursery School Children based on gender of the Nursery School Children.

1.4        SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The importance of the study is derived from the theoretical significance of the correlation between working mother-child interaction patterns and emotional development of nursery school children. The findings of the study may support the Attachment Theory by John Bowlby (1961) and the psychosocial theory of Erick Erickson (1902) which both emphasized the importance of close relationship between an infant and an adult in order to develop a stable emotional character formation.

The practical significance of the study when published in book form or discussed in conferences may be of immense benefit to parents, working mothers, nursery school proprietors, care givers, curriculum planners, the society at large and future researchers.

The findings of the present study may provide the parents with information on the negative implications of low level of interaction between mother and child particularly at the formative years of 1-3. Based on the information, the parents may see the need to spend quality time with their children after each day’s work in order to offset whatever emotional deprivation the children may have suffered as a result of absence of interaction with the mother for the day. This the parents may benefit through awareness sensitizations on the relationship between working mother-child interaction and emotional development of nursery school children.

Through journal publications the positive outcome of this study may provide working mothers with information that may equip working mothers and other parents to understand how to assist their nursery school children develop healthy emotions by understanding how best to interact with these children irrespective of their tight schedule. For the mothers also, the findings of this study may create awareness for them to see the potential dangers which nursery school children are exposed to emotionally (like emotional depression disorders) when they do not interact adequately with their mothers over a long period of time. All these the working mothers will benefit through the awareness/sensitization created by the Federal or State Ministry of Education and other educational agencies on the relationship between working mother-child interaction and emotional development of nursery school children.

Through journal and textbooks publications, attendance of conferences amd workshop etc. The findings of the study may provide information for the nursery school proprietors which may spur them to provide a rich environment for the emotional development of the child. The findings of the study may also equip them with the objectives stipulated in the National Policy on Education which will imbue them with a good knowledge of how to plan their schools in terms of human and material resources.

Also, the findings will enlighten nursery school teachers on their roles and responsibilities towards a healthy emotional development of the nursery school child irrespective of the number of hours spent in the office by the mother.

Curriculum planners will also find this research useful as it will help them see the need to review the curriculum, (if need be) of early child education with emphasis on child friendly facilities like children videos that will help in the emotional development of the child.

Furthermore, the findings of the study will provide information as well as create awareness for inspectors and supervisors of schools to license only nursery schools which have all the necessary facilities as outlined in National Policy on Education. These shall include sufficient space for play and play materials, amongst others, which enhance emotional development. Apart from giving approval by state government to run nursery schools, it is also important that to ensure that the facilities, on which basis approval was given, are maintained or still exist in the schools. In the above regard, the findings of the study will spur inspectors of education to pay regular visits to nursery schools in order to ensure that the needed facilities are available and in use by the schools.

Finally, to educational researchers who wish to carry out studies in similar fields, this study will add to the body of information/research work available for consultation and referencing. It will also be a basis for future researchers to investigate other aspects of human development and how absence of mother-child interaction impacts on them. For instance, they can research into absence of mother- child interaction and academic performances of Nursery School Child.

1.5        RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions guided the study:

1              What is the extent of correlation between working mother-child’s authoritarian interaction pattern and emotional development of Nursery School Children?

2              What is the extent of correlation between working mother-child’s authoritative interaction pattern and emotional development of Nursery School Children?

3              What is the extent of relationship between working mother-child’s permissive interaction pattern and emotional development of Nursery School Children?

4              What is the extent of relationship between working mother-child’s disengaged interaction pattern and emotional development of Nursery School Children?

5              To what extent do working mother-child’s interaction patterns (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and disengaged) correlate with emotional development of Nursery School Children?

6              To what extent does gender of the Nursery School Children influence the correlation between working mother-child interaction patterns (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and disengaged) and emotional and emotional development of Nursery School Children?

1.6        HYPOTHESES

The following null hypotheses were generated to guide the study and were tested at

0.05 level of significance:

1:        There is no significant correlation between working mother-child’s authoritarian interaction pattern and emotional development of Nursery School Children.

2:      There is no significant correlation between working mother-child’s authoritative interaction pattern and emotional development of Nursery School Children.

3:      Working mother-child’s permissive interaction pattern does not have significant relationship with emotional development of Nursery School Children?

4:      Working mother-child’s disengaged interaction pattern does not have significant relationship with emotional development of Nursery School Children.

5:      Working mother-child’s interaction patterns (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and disengaged) do not significantly correlate with emotional development of Nursery School Children.

6:      Gender of the Nursery School Children does not significantly influence the correlation between working mother-child interaction patterns and emotional development of male and female Nursery School Children.

1.7        SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study was delimited to all nursery schools of Federal and State universities in South- East Nigeria, namely Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states. Each of the states has both Federal and State Universities namely: Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (Federal) and Abia State University, Uturu (State); Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (Federal), Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, (State), Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike (Federal), Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki; University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (Federal) and Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Owerri (FUTO) and Imo state University, Owerri (State). Each of the universities has nursery schools except Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Abakaliki (Federal) and Enugu State University of Technology. The independent variables were interaction patterns such as authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and disengaged interaction patterns; while the dependent variable was fear, anger, distress, happiness and joy of Nursery School Children. Gender of the Nursery School Children was the moderating variable. The researcher used working mothers who are senior members of staff in their respective establishment who have children in Nursery Schools of the University under study. Working mothers who are junior staff were not used because they may not have the required information to respond to the questionnaires. This study was carried out in 2018/2019 academics session.