Parenting attitudes of mothers exposed to childhood parental violence

Parents' child-rearing attitudes have a significant impact on the upbringing of healthy individuals and contribute to social development. For this reason, past life experiences that affect the formation of parental attitudes, especially childhood traumas, should be examined. Traumatic experiences such as neglect and abuse occur during childhood. The aim of this study is to examine the predictors of childhood psychological traumas in parents' child-rearing attitudes.In this study, Childhood Psychological Trauma Scale and Parental Attitude Scale were applied to 104 parents with children between the ages of 2-6 who are educated in preschool education classes, independent kindergartens, private preschools and nurseries affiliated to Kocaeli Provincial Directorate of National Education. The data were analyzed using the SPSS 26 program. Frequency and percentage rates were calculated for categorical variables. For the purpose of the research, regression analysis was performed to determine the causal relationships between dependent and independent variables. Independent samples t-test and Mann Whitney U test were used to evaluate significant differences between groups. ANOVA analysis was used for mean comparisons between three or more groups. While 44% of 104 female parents in the study were exposed to psychological/emotional violence, 56% were found to have been exposed to physical violence. This research shows that the main factors affecting parents' child-rearing attitudes are the traumas they experienced in their own childhood. While emotional and physical abuse is effective in the formation of democratic attitude and overprotective attitude, emotional neglect and physical abuse are effective in the formation of authoritarian attitude. As a result, this research reveals the effect of childhood traumatic experiences on parental attitudes. The necessity of a widespread parent education program is emphasized in order to understand the attitudes of the neglected and abused parents in raising their own children and to reduce the negative effects. This program should guide parents in parenting skills, communication methods and emotional support and should be considered as an important step towards preventing child abuse