Longitudinal moderated mediation role of interparental communication and parental involvement on the relationship between the child temperament and social adjustmen

In this thesis, the moderated mediation effect of parental factors in the relationship between child temperament and social adjustment was investigated short-term longitudinally. In this context, the moderating effect of destructive marital communication and the mediating effect of parental involvement in the relationship between child temperament characteristics, social skills, and problem behaviors are examined. The sample of the study consisted of 216 married mothers and fathers who had at least one child in the preschool period, and participants were reached through the snowball sampling method. The first set of time data of the study, which was collected at two different time periods with an interval of nine months, was completed in November-December 2021, and the second set of time data was collected in June 2022. The Parental Involvement Scale, which was developed in the first stage of the study, has been brought into the literature as a valid and reliable scale that can evaluate the behavioral/emotional involvement of mothers and fathers with children in the preschool period in different sub-dimensions and can distinguish behavioral involvement as weekdays and weekends. The main findings of the study showed that children's temperament characteristics had a direct effect on the social adjustment of the child after nine months. However, the moderator role of parental factors in the relationship between temperament evaluated with relatively more challenging traits and problem behaviors after nine months has been confirmed. The interaction between destructive marital communication and child temperament was found to be effective only on the father involvement, and father vulnerability assumptions were supported. In addition, clues to maternal vulnerability were obtained for the first time based on analysis. The moderator effect of the child gender model was examined and showed that the relationship between child temperament and parental involvement was not moderating role according to child gender. Study variables were analyzed and reported according to various demographic characteristics (child gender, parent working etc.). Finally, the cross-lagged panel model was used to determine the longitudinal direction of the study variables and to understand their bidirectional effects. The results offered some clues about the stable nature of child temperament and destructive marital communication. In general, results supported the time-based effect of parental factors on children's social adjustment, and revealed how the antecedents affecting parental involvement differed for parents.