The compari̇son of anxi̇ety and chi̇ld characteri̇sti̇cs of mothers who have and do not have chi̇ld wi̇th speech delay

There are many factors that can cause speech delay in children. The literature published in both national and international journals on this topic is very limited. The aim of this study was to carry out a controlled comparison of the child-rearing attitudes and anxiety levels of mothers of children with normal speech development and those with delayed speech development as well as investigating the socio-demographic characteristics of these two groups. There are two groups included in our study: control and patient group. The patient group includes 105 mothers of children between the ages of 3 and 6 who have speech delay, while the control group includes 105 mothers of children between the ages of 3 and 6 with normal speech and language development. Mothers from both the patient and control groups were requested to fill out several surveys including an Information Survey with questions regarding socio-demographic characteristics, Parental Attitudes Research Instrument (PARI) and Beck Anxiety Scale. A statistical comparison was carried out with the data obtained from the children and mothers of the patient group and control group. In our study, there was a statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of sex (p= 0.001). This is consistent with the literature in that speech delay is seen more frequently in boys than in girls. In terms of birth order, there was also a stastistically significant difference found (p= 0.000). As seen in the literature, speech delay was seen more often in the first and second born children. There was a statistically significant difference found based on the education status of mothers (p= 0.008). In our study, it was found that the mothers of children with speech delay had higher education levels. A statistically significant difference was also found in terms of monthly income (p= 0.000). Speech delay in children was seen in families with higher monthly incomes. Data analyzed from the Overprotective Mothering sub-dimension responses in the Parental Attitude Research Instrument showed that the average scores for mothers of children with speech delay were higher than those of mothers of childen with normal speech developent and this difference was found to be statistically significant (p< 0.01). Mothers of children with speech delay had more protective mothering attitudes but in terms of responses to the sub-dimensions of Democratic Attitudes and Equality, Rejecting Homemaker Role, Marital Conflict-Discord, and Strict Discipline there was no statistically significant difference between the two gropus. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of data from reponses in the Beck Anxiety Scale (p< 0.01). It was determined that mothers of children with speech delay had a higher degree of anxiety. In conclusion, the family structure that surrounds a child and the mother's overall attitudes and behaivor and the mother's anxiety level have an important effect on a child's development. Therefore, it is thought that there is a need for research regarding the relationship between family and societal structure in Turkey and their role in the etiology of speech delay. Keywords: Speech, Speech delay, Beck anxiety scale, PARI, Mother