Mindful parenting and irrational beliefs of Turkish gifted students’ parents

The purpose of this study is twofold, to examine gifted students’ parents’ (n=202) irrational belief levels and the level of mindful parenting, and to investigate whether or not gifted students’ parents’ irrational belief levels explain the parents’ level of mindful parenting. The results showed that the level of mindful parenting was not low and the level of irrational beliefs of the parents were not high. There was no significant difference between the total scores of the Mindfulness in Parenting Scale (MIPQ) and subscale scores that took into account the variables of parents’ educational background and monthly income level. Mothers' scores were significantly higher than fathers’ in one subscale of the MIPQ. With regards to the parents’ monthly income level and educational background variables, significant differences were obtained in the level of total and subtest scores of Parents' Irrational Beliefs Scale (PIBS). The total MIPQ and PIBS scores of the parents showed a significant negative low correlation, and total PIBS scores explained a 4.56% variance in MPIQ scores. As parents' irrational belief levels decrease, levels of mindful parenting increase. In addition, one of the variables that explains mindful parenting is the irrational beliefs of parents.