Lived experience of Mothers’ Children with Emotional-Behavioral Problems: A Narrative Research

Emotional-behavioral problems among children and adolescents are considered as a potential risk factor to their psychological well-being and often lead to unfavorable and continuous consequences. The aim of this research was to investigate the themes, structure, interactions and context of the life narratives of mothers of children with emotional-behavioral problems.

The method of this research was qualitative with a pluralistic narrative analysis approach. The participants included 19 mothers of 7 8-year-old children with emotional-behavioral problems in the cities of Borujerd and Khorram Abad in 1400. To identify children with emotionalbehavioral problems was used the parent form of the Achenbach questionnaire (2001) and then a semi-structured interview was conducted with their mothers. Open, axial and selective coding was used for data analysis.

The themes identified in this research were: ineffective parenting style, socio-economic problems, communication problem with the father, family disputes, mother's stress during pregnancy, lack of interest in learning, attention deficit, difficulty in expressing emotions, anxiety sensitivity, disobedience and stubbornness, violation of school rules, lying, misbehavior, aggression and bullying, and communication problems with friends and teachers were among children with emotional-behavioral problems. The structural analysis of the narratives showed that the role of personal factors in mothers' life narratives (dissatisfaction, anger, depression) and social factors (inappropriate communication with the child) in creating emotional-behavioral problems. The interactive/performative model indicated the insufficient presence of the father at home, inappropriate father-child relationship, and family disputes, and the contextual model indicated the low level of parental education, divorce, lack of sufficient facilities, and environmental factors.

Parents' communication problems, ineffective parenting style, parents' psychological problems, socio-economic status, play an important role as risk factors in the occurrence of emotional and behavioral problems in 7-8 year old children