Turkish Mothers Reasoning and Judgment around Autonomy

We surveyed 256 mostly well-educated mothers (<i>M</i> = 36.61 years, <i>SD</i> = 4.66) of 4- to 8-year-olds in Turkey about hypothetical and real-life personal, prudential, and conventional issues. In both contexts, Turkish mothers generally reported granting their children autonomy over personal issues while maintaining authority over prudential and conventional matters, based primarily on concerns about potential harm to the child or others. Higher SES mothers reported providing more autonomy, less control, and having less conflict with their child than lower SES mothers. Mothers reported little use of punitive strategies to resolve conflicts, but negotiation and persuasion were used predominantly by higher SES mothers. Boys were granted more decision-making autonomy than girls, and preschool girls were viewed as more attention-seeking than boys, a pattern that reversed at school age. Turkish mothers balanced granting autonomy and maintaining authority, with higher SES mothers more supportive of autonomy and negotiation in conflicts than lower SES mothers.