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Cited by 16Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentMaternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and PostpartumAttachment and Relationship Dynamics

The role of emotion regulation and maternal symptoms in Turkish mothers’ caregiving helplessness during toddlerhood

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Töz, Naz, Arikan, Gizem, Üstündağ-Budak, A. Meltem·2023·Current Psychology
DOI 10.1007/s12144-021-01855-9PMC PMC8180383
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Abstract

To support mothers' positive parenting practices and designing effective early interventions in developing countries like Turkey, understanding the factors associated with feelings of helplessness in caregiving can play an important role. Therefore, we explored how mothers' depression and anxiety symptoms, and emotion regulation strategies of expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal can contribute to caregiving helplessness during toddlerhood. We also examined whether depression and anxiety can mediate the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and caregiving helplessness. A sample of 552 healthy Turkish mothers (MAge = 32.11) with 1-4 year old healthy children (MAge = 1.51) replied to advertisements we shared face-to-face and filled out a pack of questionnaires including a demographic form, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Brief Symptom Inventory and Caregiving Helplessness Questionnaire. A series of path analysis were conducted to reveal the association between emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression), depression and anxiety symptoms, and caregiving helplessness. After controlling for socio-economic status (SES), maternal anxiety but not maternal depression positively predicted caregiving helplessnes. Unlike cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression positively predicted caregiving helplessness. SES had an indirect effect (via suppression) on caregiving helplessness on caregiving helplessness. In toddlerhood, maternal anxiety rather than depression, and expressive supression rather than cogntivie reappraisal could be potential risk factors for caregiving helplessness. Thus, these can be critical target areas for effective early interventions.

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  • In low- and middle-income countries such as Türkiye, there is a paucity of research examining how sociocultural influences, family dynamics, and healthcare interactions shape maternal emotional health.

    “In particular, in low- and middle-income countries such as Türkiye, there is a paucity of research examining how sociocultural influences, family dynamics, and healthcare interactions shape maternal emotional health [18, 19].”

    From Understanding mothers’ lived experiences of postpartum depression: a qualitative phenomenological study (2025) · cites this paper as [19]

    The Discussion’s “Limitations and Future Directions” section says research on caregiving helplessness is limited, describes the study as among the first in a non-Western culture, and identifies family type, gender roles, and co-parenting as factors worth investigating. It does not establish a broader research gap across low- and middle-income countries or address how healthcare interactions shape maternal emotional health. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Töz, N., Arikan, G., & Üstündağ-Budak, A. M.
Affiliations
Özyeğin University (TR)
Corresponding author
Töz, Naz
ORCID
Venue
Current Psychology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2021-06-07
Volume
42
Issue
8
Pages
6106-6116
ISSN
  • 1046-1310 (ISSN-L)
  • 1936-4733
DOI
10.1007/s12144-021-01855-9
PMC
PMC8180383
OpenAlex
W3172476009
Cited by
16
References
11
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1
FWCI
1.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Current Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
Keywords
maternal depression, maternal anxiety, emotion regulation, expressive suppression, cognitive reappraisal, toddlerhood, parenting, socioeconomic status, Turkish mothers, early intervention

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