International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | February 2019 | Vol 6 | Issue 2 Page 808 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Hasin M et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2019 Feb;6(2):808-813 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article The style of mothering and its determinants: a study among mothers of lower primary school children Mohamed Hasin, C. R. Saju*, Jenyz M. Mundodan, M. P. Jini INTRODUCTION The first teacher and everlasting support for a child is his/her mother. Mothering uniquely contributes to the development of their children. Mother–child bonds remain so strongly throughout one’s life in spite of the changing times and complexities of life. But their child- rearing ideologies may vary in different settings. How to behave in the optimum way in different circumstances to a child is more or less a trial and test method for the parents. Its awareness and impacts help them the way of approach towards the child. Mothering style, in fact parenting style as a whole has two important elements–responsiveness and demanding- ness. Parental responsiveness (also referred to as parental warmth or supportiveness) refers to the extent to which parents intentionally foster individuality, self-regulation, and self-assertion by being attuned, supportive and acquiescent to children’s special needs and demands. Parental demandingness (referred to as behavioural control) refers to the claims parents make on children to become integrated into the family whole, by their maturity demands, supervision, disciplinary efforts and willingness to confront the child who disobeys. Both responsiveness and demandingness of every parent ABSTRACT Background: The first teacher and everlasting support for a child is his/her mother. Mother–child bonds remain so strongly throughout one’s life in spite of the changing times and complexities of life. Literature suggests that elements of warmth and control from parents, especially mothers positively correlated with achievement and intellectual orientation in children. Objectives were to assess the various styles of mothering and its determinants in mothers of children studying in lower primary schools and residing in Adat panchayat, Thrissur, Kerala. Methods: A community based descriptive study was conducted among 315 mothers of lower primary school children residing in Adat panchayat, Thrissur. Data was collected using Parental Authority Questionnaire. Results: Mean age of mothers was 31.9 years. 73% mothers were practicing predominantly authoritative parenting style, 24% were authoritarian and only 3% were permissive style. The type of family and current age of mothers were significantly associated with the style of mothering. Mothering style did not differ with the gender of children. Occupation of mothers had a significant difference in proportion of parenting styles. The working status of either or both parents significantly influenced the mothering styles. Conclusions: Most mothers followed predominantly authoritative style. Responsive and demanding behaviour of mothers vary significantly with respect to type of family, current age and employment status. Keywords: Determinants, Lower primary school children, Mothering style, Parental authority questionnaire Department of Community Medicine, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala, India Received: 06 December 2018 Revised: 11 January 2019 Accepted: 12 January 2019 *Correspondence: Dr. C. R. Saju, E-mail: drsajucr@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20190212