Mothers’ Perception of Social Participation and Its Reflection on their Children

Abstract

This qualitative research aims to examine mothers' perception of social participation and their practices to improve their children's social participation skills. The research was designed following the phenomenology method, one of the qualitative research models. This was based on the idea that mothers with close relationships to their children have a more significant impact. The study involved 12 volunteer mothers; data were collected using a semi-structured interview form. The data obtained from the interviews were presented in the form of themes, categories, and codes. Additionally, direct quotations are included to provide a detailed view of the observations and experiences of the mothers. The study findings reveal that mothers' perceptions of social participation and their efforts to improve their children's social participation skills were categorized under the headings of "political literacy" and "community service. “The majority of mothers tend to explain social participation through the lens of political literacy. Consequently, they primarily encourage community service practices to enhance their children's social participation skills. Only a few mothers have attempted to explain social participation and their efforts to enhance their children's social participation skills in terms of collective action. The study's findings revealed that while mothers understood the concept of social participation, their practices predominantly focused on a single dimension, namely community service. It has been determined that mothers need to be informed about political literacy dimension of social participation to enhance their children's social participation skills. © 2023, Association for Social Studies Educa. All rights reserved.