The relationship between emotion regulation skills and problematic behaviors of children aged 3-6 and the mother's anxiety level

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between emotion regulation skills, problem behavior levels of children aged 3-6 years, and the anxiety levels of their mothers. In addition, the study investigates the effects of various demographic variables such as the child's gender, school status, mother's educational and employment status, number of siblings, family income level, family structure, and primary caregiver on these variables. The research was designed as a descriptive study based on the relational screening model. The population of the study consists of mothers living in Turkey who have children aged between 3 and 6 years. The sample of the study includes approximately 330 mothers residing in the Ceyhan district of Adana province who voluntarily participated in the research. During the data collection process, the Preschool Behavior Scale (Kapcı, 1998) was used to assess the children's behavior, the Emotion Regulation Scale (Batum & Yağmurlu, 2007) to evaluate their emotion regulation skills, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (Ulusoy et al., 1996) to determine the anxiety levels of the mothers. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 29.0 statistical package. It was determined that the data showed a normal distribution before the analyses were conducted. In the data analysis, Independent Samples T-Test, One-Way ANOVA, Pearson Correlation Analysis, and Regression Analysis were applied. According to the research findings, it was determined that children's gender had a significant effect on emotion regulation skills, problem behavior levels, and mothers' anxiety levels. Furthermore, a positive and significant relationship was found between children's emotion regulation skills and problem behavior levels and the anxiety levels of their mothers.