The Influences of Maternal Stress and Child Care Experience on Maternal Peer Management

Abstract

The present study will examine how maternal stress and the amount of time a child spends in child care may influence the mother's ability to facilitate peer encounters for her child. Mothers of 38 preschool children completed a daily peer log for five consecutive nights that asked questions about maternal facilitation of peer encounters for their child. The mothers also completed "The Hassles and Uplifts Scale" each night. The subjects were placed into categories acoording to the amount of time the child spent in child care per week. Results showed that mothers with children in the full-time child care group responded less positively to their child's play requests than mothers with children in the part-time/mother care child care group. Total hassle scores and play requests of the child had significant relationships with maternal initiation of peer encounters. Also, child care time and play requests of the child had significant relationships with maternal positive response to peer encounters.