SELF-REVIEW OF PARENTING STYLES: Experiences in a group of socially vulnerable mothers in Northern Brazil

Abstract

Thisstudy presents a group intervention with mothers of children fromsix to twelveyears old in a situation of socialvulnerability. Weaimed to encouragethe participants to identifythe parenting style they adoptand alternatives for action, totest changes in behavior between group meetings and toevaluate the results of their efforts. Thefieldresearch describedcorresponds to one of the focus groups created in2018 in the contextofan action research implemented at the University ofAmazônia(UNAMA), Belém, located in northern Brazil. We selected five participants who were present in atleast 60% of the ten weekly meetings. Verbal exchanges in meetings and individual interviews supported the formation of analysis categories corresponding to three parenting styles: authoritative or democratic, authoritarian,and permissive. The Social Skills Rating System -Brazilian version (SSRS)and a secondindividual interview were applied attheend of the meetings. We have verified changes towardsthe adoption of an authoritative parenting style, whichgenerated positive impacts onfamily relationships. Social skills led to developments in the behavior ofchildren at school, indicating that it is a way to overcome the situation of social vulnerability in which they find themselves.