The mediating role of maternal perfectionism in the relationship between internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in early childhood and mother's parenting styles

This study was conducted to examine the mediating role of maternal perfectionism in the relationship between mothers' parenting styles and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The sample of the study consisted of 271 mothers with children aged 3-6 years. The mothers participating in the study were asked to fill in the sociodemographic information form, Parenting Styles Scale, Hacettepe Mental Adjustment Scale and Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and the data were collected online. According to the findings of the analysis conducted to test the main hypothesis of the study, it was found that there was no mediating effect of mother's self-oriented perfectionism in the relationship between overprotective and permissive parenting styles and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, while socially prescribed perfectionism had a mediating effect. On the other hand, the mediating effect of maternal perfectionism in the relationship between democratic and authoritarian parental attitudes and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems was found to be insignificant. It was found that the authoritarian parenting style of the mothers differed significantly according to the residential unit where the mother lived, and the overprotective attitude differed significantly according to the mother's educational level, employment status and the number of children she had. It was found that internalizing behavior problems in children differed according to the mother's education level, while externalizing behavior problems differed significantly according to the gender of the child. In the sub-dimensions of perfectionism, it was found that self-oriented perfectionism differed significantly according to the mother's age and socially prescribed perfectionism differed significantly according to the mother's level of education. In conclusion, the study shows that the relationship between overprotective and permissive parenting styles with internalizing and externalizing behavior problems emerges through socially determined perfectionism. In this sense, this study demonstrates the importance of the role of parents' attitudes and characteristics on their children's mental health in the Turkish sample and reveals the necessity of practical applications for parents to acquire effective and positive parenting styles. Keywords: Parenting Styles, Child Behavioral Problems, Parental Perfectionism, Early Childhood