Development of Maternal Gatekeeping Scale for Mothers with Preschool Aged Children

Family is the first social group in which child interacts. Both mothers and fathers have an impact on the development of children. However, participation of mothers and fathers in the development of the child may vary according to the cultural attributions given to mother and father roles and spousal relationship. The aim of the research is to develop a valid and reliable measuring instrument to investigate the maternal gatekeeping of mothers and examine maternal gatekeeping behaviors of mothers according to demographic variables. In this research “Causal Comparative Research Method” was used. The sample of the research was randomly selected 524 mothers of 36-72 from 24 preschools of 6 districts. The data was collected via “Maternal Gatekeeping Scale” and “Family Information Form” developed within the study. Reliability and validity analysis of the scale were conducted, and it is seen that the scale is comprised of 5 sub-scales and 57 items. As the results of the comparison tests, there are differences found according to duration of maternal care, mothers’ working status, working hours, education levels, ages, fathers’ working hours, education levels, whether there is a support in childcare, number of children, school type, and duration of marriage. The results of the study were discussed considering the relevant literature.