Investigation of the relationship between preschool children's prosocial behavior towards children with special needs and peer acceptance

This study examined the relationship between preschool children's prosocial behavior towards children with special needs and peer acceptance. The study was designed with the relational research method, one of the quantitative research methods. The study group consisted of 267 children between the ages of four and six attending public and private preschool education institutions affiliated to Ankara Provincial Directorate of National Education in 2022-2023. 52.4% of the children were girls and 47.6% were boys; 33% were four years old, 31% were five years old and 36% were six years old. In the study, the convenience sampling method was used to determine the sample. The data collection tools used in the study were "Preschool Acceptance Scale - PSAS", "Prosocial Behavior Scale for Children with Special Needs - PBSPBS" and "Illustrated Sociometry Scale". Since the distribution normality was met in the study, it was determined that it was appropriate to use parametric techniques. Pearson correlation coefficient, simple linear regression analysis, t-test for independent groups and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used in the data analysis. The research findings were analyzed in three sub-dimensions. In line with the research findings, it was concluded that children did not know what kind of prosocial responses they would give to a child with special needs. In addition, it is possible to say that preschool children tend to help a peer with special needs, but they do not have enough knowledge and experience about special needs and do not know what and how to do. According to another result obtained from the research findings, when the prosocial behavior of preschool children towards a child with special needs and their peer acceptance and sociometric degree were evaluated; it was concluded that children's prosocial behavior was related to peer acceptance and sociometric degree. In line with the third finding of the study, it was found that there was no significant difference between preschool children's prosocial behavior scores and peer acceptance scores according to demographic variables such as gender, sibling status, sibling order and number of siblings. It was determined that there was a significant difference in the prosocial behavior of preschool children according to the variable of whether or not they had received preschool education before, but there was no significant difference in children's peer acceptance.