Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Parental Effectiveness Training (PET)developed by Gordon (1970) in Turkish society. It was hypothesized that as mothers would learn the skills taught in the PET they would enhance their relationship with their children. Thus, they would evaluate themselves as more effective and they would feel less anxious. It was also claimed that these positive changes on the part of negatively in the period the mothers would slightly change after the training. To verify the hypotheses mothers were first pre-tested before the PET program; then post-tested just after the program; and finally retested eight weeks after the termination of the program. Parents' acquisition of PET skills were measured by skill stories based on the PET, changes on parenting by a parental attitude scale (PARI), parents' self evaluation by a selfrating scale and parents' anxiety level by an anxiety inventory (STAI). The results indicate that mothers learned the PET skills, became less extreme in mothering and used less discipline, evaluated themselves as more effective, and anxiety became a less important trait of their personality. However, negatively oriented changes did not occur in the period after the program. It is concluded that the PET is effective in this sample of Turkish families enhancing the mother-child relationship but not in other intra-family relations.
