Abstract:
The objective of this descriptive study was to find the relations between self-help skills of the children and demographic characteristics of children and parents, child rearing practices, parental agreement on child rearing and parental relationship. Subjects were seventy-seven nomal children aged 2.5-3.5 years who attended the Day-Care programs of the Child Mental Health Center and Ratchavitee Hospital. These subjects were screened by the Thai Developmental Screening Test. The parents answered the questionnaire on self-help behavior, child rearing practices and parental relationship. The results showed that most subjects scored above average in two aspects of self-help skills: toileting and self-cleaning and dressing but scored below average in self-feeding. Child rearing practices in most parents were democratic. In most subjects, the mothers were the main caretakers. Some maternal factors were found to be related to the self-help skills of the children. Toileting scores were related to the educational level of the mothers and the time the working mothers spent on taking care of their children. Self-feeding scores were related to the family income. No paternal factors were found to be significantly related to self-help skills of the children.