Emotional availability of working parents and its correlates among Karnataka high school children

BOJJAGANI BABITHA; PREMA PATIL; LATA PUJAR; RENUKA S. SALUNKE; N. UMA

BOJJAGANI BABITHA Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India
PREMA PATIL Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India
LATA PUJAR Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India
RENUKA S. SALUNKE Department of Family Resource Management, College of Community Science, Dharwad - 580 005 University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India
N. UMA Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Community Science, Dharwad - 580 005 University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad - 580 005, India

Keywords: Emotional availability, Father, Mother, Socio-economic status

Abstract

Emotional availability refers to the capacity of parents to be emotionally present and responsive towards their children despite of their work commitments. Emotional availability is crucial in parent-child relationship as it forms the foundation for healthy emotional development and attachment bonds. Due to work, pressure and lack of time parents are unavailable to their children, which is affecting child’s behavior. Hence, the study was undertaken to study the emotional availability of working parents. The study was conducted in Dharwad taluk of Dharwad district with a sample of 165 high school children whose both parents were working. The data was collected through general information schedule, socioeconomic status was measured by using the scale developed by Kuppuswamy (2020).In order to know the child’s perception on parent’s emotional availability, Lum Emotional Availability scale was used. The data was analyzed through descriptive statistics, chi-square, t-test, ANOVA correlation and regression. The findings of the study revealed that mothers were highly (74.12) emotionally available compared to fathers (68.04) and the difference was found to be significant at 1 per cent level. A significant association was found between father’s emotional availability with age, gender, standard of the child, father’s education, occupation and socio-economic status. Further, a significant difference was observed with age groups (2.01*), gender (1.96*), standard (3.05**) of the child, father’s education (2.07*) and socio-economic status (4.39**). Similarly, a significant association was found between mother’s emotional availability with child’s age, standard, mother’s age, education and socio-emotional status. A significant mean difference in mother’s emotional availability was also observed with respect to child’s age (2.62**), standard (3.05**), mother’s age (2.71*) and socio-economic status (2.64*). The study concluded that fathers were low in emotional availability compared to mothers.