A research of the relationship between gatekeeping behaviors of the mothers with special needs children with father involvement

In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the maternal gatekeeping behaviors exhibited by mothers with special needs children in the preschool (3-6 years), and primary school period (7-11 years) based on both the mothers' own reports and the fathers' own reports who were exposed to maternal gatekeeping behaviors. This research conducted in the city center of Ankara. 393 mothers and fathers with children with special needs between the ages of 3-6 and 7-11 were included. The "General Information Form" prepared by the researcher was used to obtain socio-demographic information about the parents of the 3-6 (pre-school) and 7-11 (primary school) children with special needs who participated in the study. In addition, "Annelik Bekçiliği Ölçeği (ABÖ)" (The Maternal Gatekeeping Scale) for 3-6 (pre-school) ages, and 7-11 (primary school) ages and the forms of mothers and fathers were applied seperately. The scale was developed by Fagan and Barnett (2003), and adapted to Turkish by Karabulut, and Şendil (2017), Karabulut (2021). As a result of this research, a moderate significant relationship was obtained between the gatekeeping behaviors scores of the mothers and the scores of fathers who are exposed to maternal gatekeeping behaviors. In addition, the maternal gatekeeping behaviors of mothers with special needs children differed significantly according to their education level, employment status, income level, socio-economic level and the number of children in the family. On the other hand, there were no significant difference according to family structure, gender of the child with special needs, type of diagnosis of the child with special needs and age at diagnosis. However, while maternal gatekeeping behaviors that fathers are exposed to differed significantly according to education level and socio-economic level, it was determined that there were no significant difference between the working status, income level, number of children in the family, family structure, gender of the child with special needs, diagnosis type of the child with special needs, and age at diagnosis. Keywords: Keywords: Maternal gatekeeping, children with special needs, father involvement