EFFECT OF WORKING MOTHERS’ WORK ENGAGEMENT ON THEIR CHILD’S EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT (A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BANKING MOTHERS AND TEACHING MOTHERS)

Arowosegbe Christanah, & Ifeoluwa Solomon

Department of Psychology

Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti

Email: ajilakehinde@yahoo.com, lovesolomon@rocketmail.com

Abstract

This study was designed to find out the effect of working mothers’ engagement on their child’s emotional attachment (A comparative study of banking mothers and teaching mothers). Eighty seven participants consisting of banking mothers and teaching mothers were used in this research work. This study employed the use of questionnaires to collect relevant data from the target participants. Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) developed by Schaufeli (2002) was used to measure how mothers feel about their job and how deep they are engaged in it, while Mother-Child attachment scale developed by Bhakoo and Dwarka (1991) was used to measure the exchange of emotional bond between mother and child. Five hypotheses were tested using One Way ANOVA, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient and Independent T-test statistical method. Results showed that, there work engagement does not significantly influence child’s emotional attachment of banking mothers; work engagement does not significantly influence child’s emotional attachment of teaching mothers. The result further showed that there is no significant relationship between work engagement and child’s emotional attachment of banking mothers; there is no significant relationship between vigor and absorption and child’s emotional attachment but there is a relationship between dedication and child’s emotional attachment of teaching mothers. Finally, the result showed that, there is no significant influence between child’s emotional attachment of banking mothers and teaching mothers [t(85)=1.648, P>.05]. The results were discussed in line with relevant empirical literatures, while conclusion and recommendations subsequently followed.

Keywords: Working Mothers, work engagement, Childs emotional attachment