PARENTS' ROLES IN CHILDREN'S MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY
Keywords:
parents’ roles, children, mental representation, socio-cultural context,Abstract
The world today treats gender issues delicately and under the authority of political
correctness. Gender equality, the rights and obligations of men and women, and
equity in their authentic establishment are topics treated differently according to
the given socio-cultural context. This study explores the impact of this context on
children's mental representations, and presents an in-depth description of their
image of mother and father, in a young democracy, where religion unites the
national perspective and vocally defines gender roles. For this research, the
drawings of a group of primary school students were analysed (n=215). Also,
students were asked to describe their mother and father in an open question
survey. The analysis presents separate images of the two parents, puts together
common characteristics, and makes connections with the socio-cultural
environment. The voice of change is heard through the aspects encountered in
children’s mental images.
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