Influence of gender-role parent positions on the manifestation of fears in primary school children

This article is devoted to the problems of studying the dependence of gender-role positions of parents and fears in primary school children. The urgency of studying this problem for the most successful psychological support of primary school children and educational work of parents is emphasized. The aim of the work is to determine the influence of gender-role parental positions on the manifestation of fears of children of primary school age. The objectives of the study are the following: to identify the dependence of the number of fears on the sex of the child; to assess the idea of the role structure of the family of parents; to assess the presence or absence of qualities in the parent; to identify the influence of the family type (complete and incomplete) and gender-roles of parents on the number of fears of the child. The following methods are applied: the questionnaire “Distribution of roles in the family” (J.A. Aleshina, L.Y. Gozman, E.M. Dubovskaya); “Gender Role. Questionnaire” (S.S. Bem); the technique of “Fears in the houses” (A.I. Zakharov, M. Panfilova). The application of the methods is expedient in defining in spouses the role structure of their family, studying masculinity and femininity of parents, researching fears in children. The study involved 50 children aged 6 to 7 years - girls ( n = 28) and boys ( n = 22), as well as 87 parents. Of which complete families are ( n = 37) and incomplete ( n = 13). The results show, first, the presence of fear in primary school children does not depend on the gender of the child, and second, reliably significant differences in gender positions of mother and father in relation to the child have been identified: mother in the idea of father is a major role in the emotional climate of the family, thereby affecting the child; father in the representation of mother is the main role by the criterion of “materiality”; the role of mother in two-parent families has an impact on the number of fears in the child of primary school age. The publication is applicable to practicing psychologists, psychologists working in PEI (preschool educational institution), teachers, educators and parents.