The research of emotion regulation, anxiety level and preferred play behaviors of children between 3-6 years

In this study, it was intended to research the interaction between emotion regulation, anxiety levels and preference play behaviors of children aged 3-6 years. The study was conducted with the parents and teachers of a total of 402 children, 207 girls and 195 boys attending pre-school education institutions. This research was conducted pre-schools in Antakya, Kırıkhan and İskenderun districts of Hatay in the 2018-2019 academic years. In this research, the data were collected with 6 forms such as Personal Teacher Information Form, Personal Parental Information Form, Informed Consent Form, Emotion Regulation Scale (ERS), Anxiety Scale in Preschool Children (ASPC), Game Behavior Scale for Children aged 36-71 months (GBSC). The T-test was used to determine whether the emotion regulation skills of the children differ in terms of gender, mother education level and father education level. One-way analysis of variance was used to examine whether children's emotion regulation skills differ from the point of play behaviors and anxiety levels of children. As a result of the research; both negativity and emotion regulation scores do not differ in accordance with gender. However, it was found that the educational level of the parents significantly differ in terms of negativity and emotion regulation scores. Moreover, negativity levels of children with low anxiety levels were lower than others whereas their emotion regulation level was higher. In addition, it was found that both negativity and emotion regulation levels of children did not differ according to the games they prefered.