Effect of Socioeconomic Status on Psychological Well-Being of Parents in Two-Children Families

Parental functioning is influenced by a variety of forces, yet the personal resources of parents have the greatest potential for buffering the parenting system. Factors related to the parents are most central to parenting competence, often mediating associations between broader social variables and variation in parenting styles. In the present study, focus was mainly on three parental variables i.e., temperamental qualities, malaise and emotional intelligence. The study was undertaken in purposively selected Hisar city, of Haryana State. Atotal of 120 two-children families were selected randomly equally representing the two SES groups i.e., upper-middle (60) and lower-middle (60). Regarding temperamental qualities out of the total sample of fathers, nearly 17% were identified as having extraversion temperament and another 10 per cent had neuroticism temperament profile. In case of mothers nearly 20 and 17 per cent were categorized into extraversion and neuroticism temperament profile. Further, majority of mothers and fathers possessed normal level of emotional intelligence and upper -middle SES mothers and fathers were slightly better in emotional intelligence than their counterparts. Regarding comparative status on malaise of parents, non-significant differences between mothers and fathers were depicted in overall sample and within two SES groups. However, on the basis of mean scores it can be interpreted that fathers scored slightly higher on malaise than mothers showing that fathers were more at risk of illness (psychological or physiological).