A Comparative Study to assess the Problems Faced by Working and non Working Mothers in Rearing of their Children, with the View to Develop Guidelines on Healthy Parenting

(i) To assess the problems faced by working mothers in rearing of their children. (ii)To assess the problems faced by non working mothers in rearing of their children. (iii)To compare the problems faced by working and non working mothers in rearing of their children. (iv)To establish relationship between selected factors vis-a-vis problems faced by working and non working mothers.(v)To develop guidelines on healthy parenting for working and non working mothers to enable them in effective rearing of their children.

A quantitative (descriptive survey) research approach, descriptive survey research design and structured questionnaire comprising 12 selected areas of problems and 65 multiple choice questions were used for the study. The study was conducted at the urban community of Navsari- Gujarat. Purposive non probability sampling technique was adopted to select 50 working and 50 non working mothers whose children were between the age group of 3–5 years.

The study showed majority of the working and non working mothers faced mild problems in rearing of their children. There is no statistical difference in problems faced by working and non working mothers. The highest problem faced by the working mothers in rearing of their children was nutrition of the child and least problem faced was health issues of the child. The highest problem faced by the non working mothers in rearing of their children was the rest and sleep of the mother and least problem faced was health issues of the child. There is no significant relationship between the problems faced by working and non working mothers and selected factors like age, marital status, number of children, family type, educational qualification, occupation, family income, number of children and availability of other caregiver to the child.

This present study revealed that most of the working and non working mothers faced problems in rearing their children. However, the areas of problems faced were different, e.g. working mothers faced highest problems in nutritional issues of their children whereas non working mothers faced highest problems in their rest and sleep. The other areas of concern included time management and supervision of their child for working mothers and psychosocial health and less time for playing with the child for non-working mothers. Both the groups of mothers faced least problems in health issues of their child.