Regulation of Toddler Temperament. A Comparative Analysis of Divorced and Married Mothers’ Responses to Toddlers’ temperament during interaction

The study sought to find out how divorced and married mothers regulated their toddler children's temperament. The study looked at mothers' responses to their toddlers' behaviours to establish if there were any significant differences or similarities in the way divorced and married mothers responded to their children. The study was undertaken in a high density suburb of Masvingo city in Zimbabwe The interview and observation data collection methods were deemed most appropriate for the study as they made possible the collection of data directly from participants in the context of their environments, hence their use. Purposive sampling was used to select the sample from the identified population. The sample comprised four mothers aged between twenty-four and twenty-six years, two of them were divorced while the other two were married, and their two and half year old sons. The study revealed that both divorced and married mothers responded to and treated their toddlers in basically similar ways. The divorced mothers were seen to show love and affection for their children, just like the married mothers did. It was evident from the observations that, despite their seemingly different marital and other social circumstances, the women were to some extent influenced by their former husbands' relatives who related well with them. When parents and caregivers should show love and warmth to toddlers under their care during interactions, there is likely to be close attachment and cordial relationships between the two parties.