Investigation of the relationship between attachment styles of mothers and the anxiety levels of their children preschool period

In the study, it was aimed to examine the attachment styles of mothers with children between 3-5 years of age, their behaviors towards their children, mother's childhood experiences and children's anxiety levels in terms of various variables, and to determine the relationship between mother's attachment styles and children's anxiety levels. The sample of the study consisted of 110 mothers whose children attend kindergartens affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the city center of Zonguldak, and obtained using the snowball method. Research data were collected with the "Personal Information Form", "The Preschool Anxiety Scale", "Adult Attachment Style Scale" and "Mother Interview Form". Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H (KWH) test, Ki-kare test, Fisher Exact test, Monte Carlo simulation and Pearson correlation coefficient analysis were used in the analysis of the research data. As a result of the research, it was found that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) between the attachment levels of mothers and the education status of mothers, economic independence status of mothers, gender status of children. It was found that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) between children's anxiety levels and children's gender status, the number of children and children's attendance at preschool education. It was determined that there was a significant difference between the attachment levels of the mothers and the anxiety levels of the children (p<0.05). It was found that there was significant difference between the mothers' behavior towards their children and the education level of the mothers and the anxiety levels of the children (p<0.05). It was determined that there were significant differences (p<0.05) between the childhood experiences of the mothers and the gender status of the children, the economic independence status of the mothers, the birth order of the children, the education status of the mothers, the attendance status of the children in the preschool education institution, the age of the children, the anxiety levels of the children, and the attachment levels of the mothers. In addition, it was determined that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) between behaviors of mothers towards their children and the childhood experiences of the mothers. According to the results of research, there was no significant difference between the total attachment styles of mothers and their children's anxiety levels. However, significant differences were found between the sub-dimensions. As a result, as mother's secure attachment style increases, social anxiety, general anxiety, separation anxiety, fear of physical injury and total pre-school anxiety levels decrease in children. As the anxious / ambivalent attachment style of mothers increases, the level of separation anxiety in children and as the avoidant attachment style of mothers increases, the levels of general anxiety, separation anxiety, fear of physical injury and total preschool anxiety increase in children. Key Words: Mother, Child, Attachment, Anxiety, Parental Attitude, Childhood Experience