Abstract (eng)
As part of the “Toddlers’ Adjustment to Out-of-Home-Care” project this diploma theses answers the questions whether there are parallels between maternal separation anxiety, maternal behavior and the behavior of children in the process of adjustment to out-of-home-care.
The child's adaptation process to out-of-home-care is a huge challenge for small children. They need not only get used to a new environment, learn to build relationships with strangers outside the immediate family, but also to endure the daily separation from the primary caregiver. This may be associated with massive separation anxiety. In turn, for the primary caregiver - in most cases, the mother - the temporary separation of her children may be characterized through separation anxiety.
Empirical-quantitative analyses related calculations of the maternal questionnaire (MSAS), which outlines the extent of maternal separation anxiety and the video data analysis tool (VAI), which assumes the maternal and infant behavior were calculated. The results using SPSS program show no statistically demonstrable relationship between maternal separation anxiety and maternal and infantile behavior during the adaption process to out-of-home-care.
Based on these results, maternal separation anxiety cannot be seen as an inhibitory factor conducive to children's coping with the separation and thus the children's adaption to out-of-home-care.