Investigation of maternal gatekeeping and father involvement as predictors of the self-regulation skills of 5-6 years old children

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between maternal gatekeeping and father involvement with children's self-regulation skills and to examine whether maternal gatekeeping and father involvement are significant predictors of children's self-regulation skills. The study was conducted with 497 children aged 5-6 years and their parents living in the central districts of Adana province. The measurement tools used in the study were the Demographic Information Form, the Father Involvement Scale, the Maternal Gatekeeping Scale and the Self-Regulation Scale in Children. Fathers answered the Demographic Information Form, Father Involvement Scale, Maternal Gatekeeping Scale and mothers answered the Self-Regulation Scale in Children. Pearson correlation analysis was employed to determine the relationships between the variables, and simple regression analysis was conducted to identify the predictability of the variables. According to the results, it was found that self-regulation skills varied according to the gender of the child, girls scored higher on the self-regulation scale, and self-regulation skills increased as the age of the child increased. In the study, it was concluded that the type of gatekeeping exhibited by mothers varied according to the gender of the child; mothers of boys had higher scores of obstacle gatekeeping and mothers of girls had higher scores of encouragement gatekeeping. It was determined that unemployed mothers had higher maternal gatekeeping scores, employed fathers were exposed to encouraging maternal gatekeeping, and unemployed fathers were exposed to control and obstacle type gatekeeping. It was found that as the father's education level increased, he was exposed to encouragement gatekeeping, while as his education level decreased, he was exposed to obstacle-type gatekeeping more, and that gatekeeping was exhibited more if there was no one else living at home other than the family. The study also found that fathers provided more primary care to boys, working fathers exhibited more father involvement, encouraging type maternal gatekeeping increased father involvement and this situation supported children's self-regulation skills, and children's self-regulation scores increased as father involvement increased. Finally, it was found that mother gatekeeping and father involvement together were significant predictors of children's self-regulation skills. Keywords: Maternal gatekeeping, father involvement, self-regulation