Investigation of the relationship between digital game addiction and emotion regulation skills of preschool teacher candidates

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between preschool teacher candidates' digital game addiction and emotion regulation skills in terms of various variables. The study group consisted of a total of 313 preschool teacher candidates enrolled in the faculty of education during the 2023-2024 academic year. Of these candidates, 258 were female (82.4%) and 55 were male (17.6%). As data collection tools, "Digital Game Addiction Scale for University Students", "Emotion Regulation Skills Scale" and a personal information form prepared by the researcher were used. In the research, relational screening model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used. In the analysis of the data of the research, six different statistical analyzes were used: Kolmogrov Smirnov Test, Spearman Correlation Analysis, Simple Linear Regression Analysis, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Mann Whitney U Test, Kruskal Wallis Test. The data were analyzed in SPSS version 22.0 and the significance level was considered as 0.05. As a result of this research; It was determined that the emotion regulation skills of preschool teacher candidates were at a moderate level and their digital game addiction levels were at a low level. A negative and low-level significant relationship was obtained between digital game addiction and emotion regulation skills. When demographic data is examined, male preschool teacher candidates have higher digital game addiction levels than female preschool teacher candidates, but this difference is not significant. Significant differences were obtained in digital game addiction levels according to grade levels, and it was determined that especially first-year preschool teacher candidates have lower digital game addiction levels than other grade levels. No significant difference was obtained in digital game addiction levels according to general grade point averages. A significant difference was observed in digital game addiction levels according to parental attitudes, and it was concluded that teacher candidates with democratic parental attitudes had lower digital game addiction levels. No significant difference was found in addiction levels in terms of income status, personality type, and time spent on digital games. It was concluded that the most preferred digital game types by preschool teacher candidates were action and puzzle-intelligence games, and the majority of them played digital games for 0-6 hours a day. When emotional regulation skills were examined demographically, it was concluded that male preschool teacher candidates had higher skills than female preschool teacher candidates. While there are significant differences in emotional regulation skills according to grade levels, the difference found is that first-grade preschool teacher candidates have higher emotional regulation skills. While no significant differences were found in emotional regulation skills according to income status and the types of digital games they play, significant differences were found according to parental attitudes and overall grade point averages.