A Cross-sectional Study to Compare the Emotional Maturity between Middle School Children of Working and Nonworking Mothers

Background: A child’s overall development is based on physical and emotional well-being. Parenting skills play a vital role in child’s emotional well-being and can be influenced by many factors and one of the factors is mother’s working status. The study aims to assess the emotional maturity level of middle school children and to compare the emotional maturity levels between middle school children having working mothers and middle school children having nonworking mothers. Methodology: An analytical cross-sectional study among middle school children between the ages of 13 and 16 years was conducted in a school between June 2023 and November 2023 for 6 months. A questionnaire-based interview was conducted using a standard semi-structured Emotional maturity scale questionnaire. Descriptive outcome was represented as frequency and proportions. Analysis was performed using SPSS software and suitable statistical tests like the Chi-square test were used. Results: The total number of students interviewed was 150 and were equally divided based on the working status of mothers. Among them, 54.7% were boys and 45.3% were girls. About 1.3% of the children of working mothers exhibited very low emotional maturity, but none of the children of nonworking mothers did. Of the children of working mothers, 12% demonstrated low emotional maturity, compared to 8% of the children of nonworking mothers. 78.7% of children whose mothers were working had an average level of emotional maturity, compared to 85.3% of children whose nonworking mothers. 8% of the children of working mothers exhibited a high level of emotional maturity, compared to 6.7% of the children of nonworking mothers. There was no significant difference between the emotional maturity of children of working and nonworking mothers ( P = 0.595). Conclusion: The study showed nil significant differences in emotional maturity scores between children of working and nonworking mothers. However, a very low emotional maturity level was seen in children of working mothers which needs further importance.