Examination of nine year old children attending primary schools in Northern Cyprus Turkish Republic-Lefkoşa (Nicosia) district in terms of relationship between mothers attitudes and sibling relationships

Purpose of this study was determined as putting down maternal attitudes, sibling relationships and impact of maternal attitudes upon sibling relationships on 9 year olds. In this regard, maternal attitudes and sibling relationships of 9 year olds were examined based on gender, sibling condition, gender of the sibling, age of the sibling, educational level of the mother and income level of the family variables; also further researches were conducted in order to see whether maternal attitudes have any impact on sibling relationships based on different gender and different sibling condition, educational level of the mother and income level of the family variables. Sample of the study comprises 9 year old 147 girls and 153 boys who are attending primary schools in Northern Cyprus Turkish Republic, Lefkoşa District and mothers of the same. Introductory information regarding the children and their families were obtained via Personal Information Form. Parental Attitude Research Instrument (P.A.R.I.) was used in order to determine attitudes of mothers while raising their children and Sibling Relationships Questionnaire (S.R.Q.) was used in order to obtain information on how children interpret their relationships with their siblings. Analyses of the data obtained were conducted with the computer statistics program S.P.S.S. 10.0. It was understood that attitudes of mothers towards child raising were influenced by educational level of the mother and income level of the family and that perceptions of 9 year olds regarding sibling relationships were influenced by sibling condition, age of the sibling and educational level of the mother. Furthermore, maternal attitude of role-rejecting has an impact on warmth/ intimacy behaviours on children with elder siblings, establishing a democratic attitude, rol-rejecting and lack of harmony in relationship attitudes have an impact on warmth/ intimacy behaviours on children with elder sisters, attitude of strict discipline has an impact on status/ power behaviours on children with younger siblings and younger brothers, attitudes of role-rejecting and strict discipline have an impact on rivalry factor on children with younger brothers and attitude of excessive protecting and maternal attitude of role-rejecting have an impact on warmth/ intimacy behaviours on children whosefamilial monthly income is TL600 million or less and on those whose familial monthly income is TL901 million or more. According to the aforementioned results, it is seen that maternal attitudes influence perceptions of children towards sibling relationships to a great extent. Therefore, mothers may contribute to overall development of their children by creating a democratic environment as well as they may reinforce and support positive sibling relationships in the same way. In other researches, examining different standpoints of the same subject on different sample groups and by using different variables will add different dimensions to the same subject.