Investigation of motherhood perception based on mother-child play interaction

In this study, it is aimed to examine how mothers who use the desired and undesirable expressions in the five-minute free play interaction with their children between the ages of 3-6 represent motherhood in their cognition by semi-structured interview technique, the repertory grid technique. This research is a multiple quantitative case analysis study. Free play interactions were video-recorded in the home environment. Then, the expressions used by the mothers during the play interaction were coded into the Parent-Child Play Recording-Coding Form and the mothers who used mostly requested and mostly unwanted/inappropriate expressions were determined. Elements in repertory grid technique; "me as a mother", "me as a mother according to my child", "me as a mother according to my husband", "me as a mother according to my mother", "me as a mother according to my mother-in-law", "an ideal mother", "a non-ideal mother", "unfortunately what kind of mother did I have to be", "a good mother I know", "a bad mother I know". The personal structures of the mothers were reached by comparing the elements in triplicate. Finally, each element is rated between 1 and 5 based on personal constructs. Data were analyzed by entering idiogrid 2.4 program. As a result of the findings, it was seen that the mothers mostly used undesirable/inappropriate expressions in their free play interactions. The most frequently used desired expression is "complying with the child's wishes", the most frequently used undesirable/inappropriate expression is "giving orders". Another finding is the eigenvalue obtained from the distance coefficient between the "an ideal mother" and "me as a mother" elements. In general, it was observed that the eigenvalues of the mothers who mostly used the desired expressions in the play interaction were higher than the mothers who mostly used the unwanted expressions. Again, it was observed that mothers who mostly used the desired expressions in the play interaction associated themselves with more positive constructs than those who mostly used the unwanted expressions. Mothers associated themselves closely with the following elements; "unfortunately what kind of mother did I have to be", "me as a mother according to my child", "me as a mother according to my husband", "me as a mother according to my mother" and "me as a mother according to my mother-in-law". While mothers who used mostly desired expressions in their play interactions positioned themselves far from the "non-ideal mother" element, mothers who mostly used undesirable/inappropriate expressions positioned themselves far and moderately from this element. On the other hand, mothers who use the desired experessions mostly position themselves close and moderately to the element "a good mother I know", while the element of "a bad mother I know" is distant and moderate; Those who use undesirable expressions mostly position themselves moderately and far from the element "a good mother I know". On the other hand, they have positioned themselves far, middle and close to the element of "a good mother I know".