Development of preschool emotion regulation scale and predictability of mothers' emotion regulation difficulties on children's emotion regulation skills

This study aims to develop a tool for measuring the emotion regulation skills of children aged 48-72 months, examine mothers' emotion regulation difficulties as well as children's emotion regulation skills based on various variables and investigate the predictability of mothers' difficulties in emotion regulation on children's emotion regulation skills. Designed as a correlational survey a quantitative research method, this study was carried out at the preschool institutions affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the Ataşehir, Beşiktaş, Eyüp and Üsküdar districts of Istanbul Province. The research comprised two different study groups. The measurement tool was developed using the data from Study Group I, which consisted of 294 children aged 48-72 months attending the preschool education institutions in the spring semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. The developed measurement tool and other measurement tools were used to collect data from Study Group II, which consisted of 210 children aged 48-72 months attending the preschool education institutions in the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year as well as their mothers. The data collection tools used in the study included the Personal Information Form, prepared by the researcher; the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, adapted to Turkish and validated by Rugancı and Gençöz (2010); the Preschool Emotion Regulation Scale, developed by the researcher; and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, adapted to Turkish and validated by Batum and Yağmurlu (2007), which was used to test the criterion validity of the measurement tool developed by the researcher. As a result of the research, it was found that the content validity index of the Preschool Emotion Regulation Scale was 0.67, and its item-total score correlation coefficients were appropriate. As a result of the analysis conducted to determine the criterion validity, it was determined that the scale satisfied the criterion validity. The Cronbach's alpha value of the scale was found to be 0.93. It was determined that there was a significant difference between the lower and upper groups for all items of the scale, and the item discrimination was satisfied. It was found that there was a high-level, positive and significant correlation between the test and retest scores, ensuring the inter-rater reliability. As a result of these findings, it was determined that the Preschool Emotion Regulation Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool. As a result of the study, it was found that the mothers' emotion regulation difficulties were moderate and differed according to the variables of educational status, the child's gender and child's age and did not differ based on the variables of age, employment status, perceived income level and number of children. The children's emotion regulation skills were moderate and differed according to the variables of gender, age, duration of attending the preschool education and mother's educational status and did not differ based on the variables of type of institution, number of siblings, birth order, mother's age, mother's employment status and family's income level. It was found that there was a high-level, negative and significant correlation between the mothers' emotion regulation difficulties and the children's emotion regulation skills. It was further determined that the mothers' emotion regulation difficulty scores were significant predictors of the children's emotion regulation skill scores. In addition, the mothers' emotion regulation difficulty scores explained 60% of the variance in the children's emotion regulation skill scores in a statistically significant manner. Keywords: Preschool Emotion Regulation Scale, Emotion Regulation, Emotion Regulation Difficulty, Children Aged 48-72 Months, Mothers