Personality profiles, emotional maturity and parental acceptance/rejection of children of working and non-working mothers.

The family is regarded as one of the primary group of society concerned with face to face relationship. A child receives his earliest education in his family. It is here that his basic ideas, ideals as well as many attitudes towards himself and his associates are initiated which determine his later adjustment to school and other out of home situations. The attitudes, economic status, behavioural experiences of his/her parents and family environment, all influence the child’s behaviour both directly and indirectly. Woman as a mother has a great role to play in the development of her children. The mother’s interaction with the child has a profound impact on the development of child. In the absence of mother a child feels lonely, insecure and this adversely affects not only the initial activities of the child but also the social and personal development of the child. A mother has more opportunities than the father to influence the child’s growth and behaviour. However it is obvious that when mother enters the employment market their children face crisis from their early age, because they are then usually reared by servants. They cannot take proper care of these children as their mothers can. So, they face hardships in terms of emotional support and rearing. Working Mothers usually place their children in childcare, which results less attention & instruction. It may have significant cognitive effects later in child hood. It has also been found that working mothers had a negative impact on their children, because after work they are sometimes too tired to interact with their children (Reynolds et al., 2003).Digital copy of Ph.D thesis.University of Kashmir