Investigation of peer bullying in early years on the basis of emotional intelligence and family variables

This study is a descriptive research that purposes to investigate peer bullying in early years on the basis of emotional intelligence and some family variables. "Storified Hypothetical Situations Form", "Sullivan Emotional Intelligence Scale for Children", "Sullivan Brief Empathy Scale for Children", "Sullivan Teacher Rating Scale of Emotional Intelligence in Children", "Parents Attitude Scale" and Demographical Information Form have been used as data collection tools. The obtained data have been analyzed by means of SPSS 17 package program. This study has been carried out in 7 early childhood education institutions in Kastamonu during the spring semester of 2016-2017 academic year. This 7 early childhood institutions located in the different regions of the city with different socio-economic status. The study group consist of 286 preschool children aged 5 and 6. The study group was determined by using purposive sampling method. Findings indicated that peer bullying is significantly related to children's gender, mother's education status, socio-economic level, father's profession, child's level of interest in violent games and television programs, democratic attitude and authoritarian attitude variables. Furthermore, it has been concluded that children's emotional intelligence skills are connected with peer bullying. On the other hand findings revealed that peer bullying is not significantly related to age, number of siblings, step siblings, birth order, father's education status, mother's working status, parents' marital status, child's school readiness level, child's attendance level, permissive attitude and excessive protective attitude variables.