Examining mothers’ ownchildhood experiences, behaviours toward their children and attitudes toward violence

Abstract

This research aims to examine the child-rearing experiences and attitudes toward the violence of mothers who witnessed or experienced violence in their childhood and those who have not. The research is conducted over a study group of 30 mothers whose 5- to 6-year-old children are attending kindergarten. The data have been collected using the semi-structured interview technique and analysed by performing descriptive analysis. As a result of the data analysis, the research findings have been gathered under five main themes: witnessing violence in childhood, unwanted behaviours in children, behaviours toward children when angry, punishments applied to children, and perspective on violence. According to the obtained results, 43.3% of the participant mothers had encountered a violent event that had affected them in their childhood, while 36.7% had not encountered any violent event. Regarding their child-raising experiences and attitudes toward violence, there were differences between mothers who had witnessed or experienced violence in their childhood and those who had not. When assessing the perspective on violence, 70% of the mothers consider using violence to be wrong, are completely against violence towards women and children, and believe that violence does not solve problems but instead leads to more violence.