Associations between of maternal parenting styles and beliefs about children's emotions on preschoolers’ social skills and problem behaviours

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to investigate the predictive effects of maternal parenting styles and beliefs about emotions on the social skills and problem behaviours of preschoolers. The study involved 227 mothers of 3–6-year-old preschool children (Mage = 63 months). Two hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determine to what extent the mothers' parenting styles and beliefs about children's emotions predicted the social skills and problem behaviours of their children. The first model found that the authoritative parenting style and supportive beliefs about children's emotions explained 14% of the variance in social skills. The second model found that non-supportive beliefs about emotions, combined with authoritative and permissive parenting style predicted 18% of children's problem behaviours. The findings of the study suggest that parenting styles and emotional beliefs play a crucial role in predicting children's social skills and problem behaviours.KEYWORDS: Social skillsproblem behavioursparenting stylesbeliefs about emotions Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by Cukurova University Scientific Research Projects Funding Unit: [Grant Number SBA-2018-10862].Notes on contributorsİnanç Etiİnanç Eti is a dedicated research assistant in the Department of Early Childhood Education at Çukurova University, specializes in early development and education, social skills, parent involvement and drama in education. Passionate about promoting positive socio-emotional growth of children, İnanç also leads parenting programs such as Circle of Security.