Turkish mothers' judgments around personal choice and autonomy

Autonomy and personal choice are seen as basic psychological needs, yet the boundaries of these choices vary in different cultural contexts. The present study examined Turkish mothers' perspectives on young children's autonomy and personal choice and the role of socioeconomic status (SES), child age, and gender in their responses. We surveyed 256 mostly well-educated mothers (M = 36.61 years, SD = 4.66) of 4- to 8-year-olds in Turkey about hypothetical and real-life personal, prudential, and conventional issues. In both contexts, Turkish mothers generally reported granting their children autonomy over personal issues while maintaining authority over prudential and conventional matters, based primarily on concerns about potential harm to the child or others. Higher SES mothers reported providing more autonomy, exerting less control, and having less conflict with their children than lower SES mothers. Mothers reported little use of punitive strategies to resolve conflicts, but negotiation and persuasion were used predominantly by higher SES mothers. Boys were granted more decision-making autonomy than girls, and preschool girls were viewed as more attention seeking than boys, a pattern that reversed among school-aged children. Turkish mothers balanced granting autonomy and maintaining authority, with more support for autonomy and negotiation over conflicts among higher than lower SES mothers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).