The associations between mothers’ and foreign domestic helpers’ caregiving and young children’s adaptive functioning

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate if three- to five-years-old children’s adaptive functioning was positively correlated with the mothers’ level of authoritative parenting/caregiving style and with foreign domestic helpers (FDHs)’ level of authoritative caregiving style. The mothers and their Filipino or Indonesian domestic helpers participated in the study by giving ratings of both the mothers’ and the helpers’ level of authoritative caregiving style. The mothers also provided ratings on the adaptive functioning of their children. The findings indicated that both mothers’ and FDHs’ level of authoritative caregiving style rated by mothers were positively associated with young children’s adaptive functioning. Results from multiple regression analysis indicated that both mothers’ and FDHs’ level of authoritative caregiving styles were unique predictors of young children’s adaptive functioning.