Parental styles and closeness to the domestic servant as perceived by the children of Qatar

Many domestic servants live and work in Qatar. The domestic servants are asked to care for children in addition to the house work. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between domestic servants and children in Qatari homes and the mediation of this relationship by negative parenting styles. A set of questions was developed along three main themes: the affiliation of children to domestic servants, fear and anxiety and sharing of personal matters. Based on factor analysis, a measure of closeness of children to domestic servants was created. A set of endogenous and exogenous variables was used to predict this measured relation using a stepwise regression equation. The endogenous variables measured the parenting styles as perceived by the children. The exogenous variables measured the background information of the domestic servants. The main predictive variables were parents demeaning of children by their parents and the mother’s lack of attention or presence as perceived by the children. The main exogenous variables of knowledge of language and years of employment were also strong predictors because the domestic servants may have worked a number of years in the homes, which made the children more easily attracted to the servants. Further studies must begin to address the impact of parenting on children’s behavior. The pressures of home and child care have led to a number of suicides and psychological and traumatic experiences of exploitation and abuse among domestic servants. Policy makers must begin to address family management and family support issues and rights of domestic servants in custodial setting. Any future studies should address the conditions of domestic servants and children, those affected the most.