Examining the effectiveness of "Emotion Socialization Training Program" on parents and preschool teachers of 48-72 month-old children

Emotional development during the preschool period constitutes the foundation for social and academic skills that will last a lifetime. Emotion socialization, by enabling both parents and teachers to guide children in recognizing, expressing, and regulating their emotions, supports the development of a healthy self-concept, self-regulation, and empathy. In Türkiye, alongside differences in parenting approaches, the diversity in teachers' emotional awareness and practices necessitates the development of structured emotion socialization programs to foster children's healthy emotional growth. However, the literature indicates that systematic emotion socialization training programs targeting early childhood remain limited and insufficient in terms of prevalence for both parents and teachers in Türkiye. Within this context, the purpose of the present study is to determine the effectiveness of the "Emotion Socialization Training Program" developed for parents of 48–72-month-old children and for preschool teachers. The study included a total of 70 parents (35 in the experimental group and 35 in the control group) and 70 preschool teachers (35 in the experimental group and 35 in the control group). The "Responses to Children's Emotions Scale (Parent/Teacher Form)" was administered to participants, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, the quantitative research method of a "Pretest–Posttest Control Group Experimental Design" was employed. The findings revealed that the program produced significant changes in the emotion socialization behaviors of both parents and teachers. In conclusion, it was determined that the program increased positive emotion socialization behaviors among both parents and preschool teachers. The study underscores the necessity of parent- and teacher-based emotion socialization training in early childhood and provides findings that may contribute to the design of future programs.