Mothers’ attitudes regarding parental styles and child abuse in Croatia

Abstract

Objective – To explore Croatian primipara mothers’ attitudes toward strict-authoritarian parenting style and to analyze if there are any maternal factors, more specifically age, education and place of residence that could be linked to mothers’ attitudes toward different statements reflecting abusive behavior toward children and statements reflecting safety behavior toward children. Materials and Methods – A cross-sectional study was carried out at the maternity ward of the Clinical Hospital Center Zagreb, Clinic for Women’s Diseases and Obstetrics in Zagreb, Croatia. A specially designed anonymous questionnaire served as a research tool for this study that included 284 Croatian primipara mothers. Results – This study showed that younger age, lower level of education and residence of mothers in less urbanized areas are related to more positive attitudes toward authoritarian parenting style and abusive behavior. Conclusion − The aforementioned group of mothers is one of the priority groups for conducting primary intervention for preventing child abuse. In this sense, primary prevention should be carried out with future parents before they have their own children so that they can understand the problem, gain the necessary knowledge, accept attitudes that disapprove of child abuse and behave in this way in their lives. The economic, social and moral support of the whole society is a significant factor in this matter.