Determining the Moderating Role of Birth Order in the Relationship between Mothers' Emotional Maturity and Perfectionism with Children's Anxiety in First Period of Elementary School

The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the moderating role of birth order in the relationship between mothers' emotional maturity and perfectionism and children's anxiety in first period of elementary school. This research was a descriptive study of causal-correlation type. The statistical population of this study consisted of all mothers whose children were studying in the first period of elementary school in Ardakan city. Among these, 327 people were selected based on availability of participants. To collect information, Spence Child Anxiety Scale-Parent version (SCAS-P) (1999), Emotional Maturity Scale (EMS) (1990) and Ahvaz Perfectionism Scale (1999) were used. Finally, statistical data was analyzed using Spss-26 and Amos-24 software. The research findings indicate the existence of a direct and significant relationship between mothers' negative perfectionism and children's anxiety, as well as a direct and significant relationship between mothers' emotional immaturity and children's anxiety. The moderating role of birth order in the relationship between perfectionism and children's anxiety was not significant. The moderating role of birth order was significant in the relationship between emotional immaturity and children's anxiety. Based on the findings of the present study, the order of children's birth has a moderating role in the relationship between mothers' emotional maturity and children's anxiety, and in general, it can be said that the effect of mothers' emotional immaturity on the level of anxiety in first children is more severe than in middle and last children.