Souzan Dehghanpour, Hamed Barmas and Alireza Kiamanesh
The present study aims to investigate the effect of self-focused parenting on reducing aggressive and stubborn behaviors in six-year-old children in Yazd city. In this regard, a number of 66 children and their mothers were randomly selected and assigned into either an experimental group (N=30) or a control group (N=30). The experimental subjects conducted self-focused parenting style while the control subjects conducted the common parenting style. Following the intervention, Rutter questionnaire and a researcher-made scale were used to examine aggressive and stubborn behaviors in children in either group, respectively. The results showed that self-focused parenting could reduce both aggressive and stubborn behaviors in children. The results of statistical analysis revealed that self-focused parenting reduced aggression and stubbornness in children. Considering the answers mothers provided on the researcher-made questionnaire, children’s mean stubborn score was calculated to be 38.06 before and 31.23 after the training program, which indicates the effectiveness of the intervention. The results of descriptive statistics and measures of central tendency revealed that experimental children’s mean aggressive score was 10.2 before and 6.83 after the training program, which indicates the effectiveness of the program. From a comparison between mothers’ answers to the questionnaires and t distribution table, we may conclude with 95 percent certainty that there was a significant difference in mothers’ attitude toward aggressive behavior in their children before and after the training program (P≤0.05).
