Examining the relationship between typical development children's prosocial behaviors towards their peers with special needs and their peer acceptance levels and peer bullying

In this study, it was aimed to examine the mediating role of peer acceptance in the relationship between the prosocial behaviors of typically developing children toward their peers with special needs and the bullying behaviors of these children toward their peers. The research employed the relational survey model, one of the survey models. The study group consisted of 260 children aged 5–6 who attended independent preschool institutions and kindergarten classes affiliated with the Ministry of National Education (MEB) in Konya and had inclusive students in their classrooms. The data were collected using the Prosocial Behavior Toward Children with Special Needs Scale, the Revised Preschool Peer Acceptance Scale, the Assessment Form for Bullying and Victim Behaviors in Children, and a Personal Information Form. To determine the mediating effect of the model tested in the study, Pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis based on the bootstrap method were used. The research results indicate that there is a positive statistical correlation between the prosocial behaviors of typically developing children toward their peers with special needs and their level of acceptance of their peers. there was a negative, statistically significant correlation between prosocial behaviors and aggressive child behaviors and passive aggressive child behaviors, and there was a negative, statistically significant correlation between preschool children's levels of acceptance of peers with special needs and aggressive child behaviors and passive aggressive child behaviors. The study examined the peer acceptance levels of typically developing children toward their peers with special needs in terms of variables such as age, gender, birth order, number of children in the family, and duration of preschool education. While no significant differences were found in the bully subscale of the Bully and Victim Child Behavior Assessment Form in terms of the age variable, a significant difference was found in the passive bully child behavior subscale. No significant difference was found in peer acceptance levels based on the gender variable. a significant difference was found in terms of the mean scores on the prosocial behavior scale toward children with special needs. No significant difference was found in the passive bully child behavior subscale of the bully and victim child behavior assessment form; a statistically significant difference was found in the bully child behavior subscale. Finally, the study concluded that peer acceptance has a mediating role in the relationship between typically developing children's prosocial behaviors toward peers with special needs and their bullying behaviors toward peers. That is, prosocial behaviors increase peer acceptance, and this increase leads to a decrease in bullying behaviors among children. Keywords: Children with special needs; peer acceptance; prosocial behaviors; peer bullying; preschool period.