Melike Sayıl

First Time Mothers' Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms Across the Transition to Motherhood: Associations with Maternal and Environmental Characteristics

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to examine demographic, environmental, belief, and personality factors related to maternal well-being as a part of a comprehensive project. In this study, maternal well-being was measured as prenatal anxiety and postnatal depression. A total of 200 pregnant women participated in this study. Women were included who were married, pregnant with a first child, working full time before conception and over the age of 20 years. The participants were selected from university hospitals and birth clinics in Ankara, Turkey. Participants were interviewed at 6–8 months of pregnancy and at 6–8 months after the birth. Each interview included structured items to measure relevant variables and lasted approximately 45–60 minutes. Results revealed that in the prenatal period lower maternal income, self-esteem and self-efficacy were significantly associated with prenatal maternal anxiety. In the postnatal period, maternal depressive symptoms were significantly associated with unplanned pregnancy, higher anxiety, perceived lower satisfaction with paternal physical support, and negative maternal attitudes toward employment. Findings indicated that prenatal high anxiety might be an adverse risk factor for postnatal well-being of mothers. In conclusion, both common and culture-specific factors related to prenatal and postnatal maternal well-being might assist with maternity and early care policies in this culture.

Are discrepancies in perceptions of psychological control related to maladjustment? A study of adolescents and their parents in Turkey

The current study examined whether adolescent–parent discrepancies in the perception of psychological control are associated with adolescent maladjustment. The sample consisted of 552 Turkish adolescents attending high school and their parents. Half of the adolescents had similar scores to their parents, while the remaining half thought differently. The results of the polynomial regression with response surface analysis showed that the incongruence between reports was positively associated with having deviant friends for males, and feelings of loneliness for females. Results suggested that reports of low levels of psychological control for father–adolescent pairs were associated with fewer deviant friends for males and lower levels of loneliness for females. Moreover, the possibility of having deviant friends was higher when males and their mothers were congruent in reporting high levels of psychological control. These findings highlight the importance of consideration of perceptual differences in parental practices in relation to adolescent maladjustment.

The mediational roles of harsh and responsive parenting in the longitudinal relations between socioeconomic status and Turkish children’s emotional development:

This study examined the associations among the socioeconomic status (SES) of Turkish families when children (N = 340, Mean age = 83 months, SD = 3.59, 50.3% boys) were approximately 7 years of age (Time 1) and their emotional lability and emotion regulation tendencies 3 years later (Time 3). We also examined the mediating roles of mothers’ harsh and responsive parenting behaviors when children were 9 years of age (Time 2). Results revealed that family SES was positively linked to parental responsiveness and negatively linked to harsh parenting; harsh parenting was positively linked to children’s emotion lability and negatively linked to children’s emotion regulation (after controlling for prior levels of emotion regulation and emotional lability at Time 2). Further, harsh parenting significantly mediated the associations between family SES and children’s emotional lability and emotion regulation tendencies. The pattern of associations did not vary by child gender or community (e.g., Istanbul, Ankara, Bolu) in Turkey. The findings highlight the interplay among family SES, maternal parenting behaviors, and children’s self-regulation outcomes in a non-Western, collectivist society.