Mothers' parental attitudes and anxiety as predictors of well being in pre-school children

In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the relationship between mothers' parental attitudes, anxiety in preschool period and well-being. Participants in the study consisted of 430 preschool children and their mothers, including 209 girls and 221 boys (x̄ = 34.16; ss = 6.08), between the 36-72 month period (x̄ = 64.95, ss = 7.47). Personal Information Form, Parental Attitude Scale, Revised the Preschool Anxiety Scale and Social Emotional Well Being and Resilience Scale were used in the collection of data. The data were analyzed with the SPSS 18.0 statistical program. Independent samplest test t test, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation and multiple linear regression analysis were used to answer the researce quastions suggested in the study. According to the findings, the well-being scores differ according to the gender of preschool children and it is seen that preschool girls have higher well-being scores than preschool boys. Additionally, preschool children's well-being scores vary significantly depending on the duration of their continued preschool education. Children who continue preschool education for two or more years have higher well-being scores than the children who continue for an average of one year. In addition, it is seen that the level of well-being is different compared to the age groups of preschool children and that older age children have higher well-being scores than younger age children. According to the correlation analysis findings, oppressive authoritarian attitude, preschool social anxiety and age have a significant relationship with well-being. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that gender, age, oppressive authoritarian attitude and preschool social anxiety significantly predict well-being. The results were discussed with literature and theories and various recommendations were made. Keywords: Well-being, Parental Attitudes, Anxiety, Preschool Children