The relationship between mother's temperament and attachment with children's behavioral problems: the mediating role of mother-child relationship

The aim of the research was to investigate the mediation of mother-child relationship in the relationship between mother's mood and attachment with behavioral problems of children aged 6 to 12 years. The study was conducted by correlation method and available sampling. From the community of 1000 children participating in the summer activities of the centers of Rajaeeshahr region of Karaj, 300 mothers of children with an average age of 9.5 years to the mother-child relationship evaluation tools of Ross (1961); Collins and Reid's (1990) attachment; Stress, anxiety and depression 21 questions (1998); and Rutter's (1964) behavioral problems answered. After discarding 86 questionnaires, the data of 214 questionnaires were analyzed by path analysis method using Lisrel software. The results showed that the two variables of mother's mood and attachment have a direct effect on the child, respectively (β=0.18 and β=0.35 with P=0.001) and a direct effect on the child's behavioral problems. It is equal in both paths (β=0.39, P=0.001). This is despite the fact that the mediator variable, mother-child relationship, has no significant effect on children's behavioral problems (β=0.12, P=0.001). In addition, the two mentioned variables were able to explain 55% of children's behavioral problems at the level of 0.05. According to the findings of the research, it can be concluded that among the effective factors in interventions to reduce behavioral problems, in addition to parenting skills, is the intervention to improve the mother's mood and attachment problems.