Examining the relationship between parents' emotion socialization behaviors and their children's empathic skills

Emotion socialization is defined as parents' responses to their children's emotions and experiences. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parents' emotion socialization behaviors and children's empathic skills. A correlational survey model, a quantitative research method, was used to examine this relationship. During the research process, 434 parents of children aged 48-72 months who were attending independent kindergartens affiliated with the Ministry of National Education and preschool classes affiliated with primary schools in the central districts of Malatya Province (Battalgazi and Yeşilyurt) were contacted. In this study, a correlational research design was used to explain the relationship between parents' emotion socialization behaviors and descriptive characteristics, and between their children's empathy scores and descriptive characteristics. A predictive correlational research design was used to investigate whether emotion socialization behaviors predicted empathic skills. The study used the "Reactions to Children's Emotions Scale," developed by Ersay (2014), and the "Empathy Quotient Scale for Children," developed by Altun, Değerli, Bolat, and Kınık (2018), as data collection tools. A "Personal Information Form," developed by the researcher, was also used to access demographic information about parents and relate it to the study. Statistical analysis programs were used to analyze the research data. According to the analysis results, parents' reactions to children's emotions were found to have a significant impact on their children's empathic skills. It was concluded that punitive, nurturing, and neglectful attitudes, in particular, negatively impact empathic development. It can be said that the level of education of both parents has an impact on punitive, nurturing, and distracting reactions and can shape empathy with moderate effect sizes. Comparing empathy scores by gender revealed that girls have more developed empathic skills than boys. Comparing empathy scores by cohabitation status revealed that children of parents who live together exhibit higher empathic skills.