THE ROLE OF MATERNAL MINDFULNESS IN SOCIAL EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD

Background & Objective: The mother is the primary caregiver in the infant’s life, where the child is having his/her initial communication, interaction, and bond formation. Previous researches suggest the positive role of mindfulness in parenting and child development. The present study examines the association between maternal mindfulness and social-emotional development of the child.

Method: 119 mothers of children participated in the study and completed the set of standardized questionnaires. Further, the participants were divided among four groups depending on the children living in a joint family or nuclear family and mothers who stayed home or working. Data was collected and analysed using the Pearson correlation coefficient.

Result: There was a significant difference in the mean of ASQ: SE score among the group 1 (stay home mothers living in a joint family) and group 4 (working mothers in a nuclear family) and also the mean score for mindfulness in mother for group 1 with is highest whereas lowest for group 4. Hence this indicates that children living in the joint family with a stay at home mothers have higher Social-Emotional Development as compared to children living in nuclear families with working mothers.

Conclusion: The finding of the study suggests that there exists a positive correlation between the mindfulness of the mothers and the Social-Emotional development of their children.