Türkiye'deki çocukların okul öncesi dönemde öz - düzenleme becerileri: Aile bağlamı ve sosyo - duygusal yetkinlikle ilişkiler

In the present study, we examined self-regulatory skills, namely, effortful control and executive function, in Turkish preschoolers (N = 186) and their mediating roles in the associations between parenting and children's socio-emotional competence. We also investigated the roles of family socioeconomic status (SES) and maternal psychological well-being in these concurrent associations. Mothers' reports were used for maternal depressive symptoms, parenting behaviors, and children's effortful control. Individual assessment was utilized for executive function and socio-emotional competence was assessed via multiple methods (mother report, teacher report, and individual assessments). Structural equation modeling results showed that higher depressive symptoms and SES were significantly associated with responsiveness and power-assertiveness. The pathway extending from maternal depressive symptoms to children's effortful control was mediated by maternal power-assertiveness. Higher SES was also related to children's better executive function skills, and there was a marginally significant positive path from SES to children's effortful control through maternal power-assertiveness. However, none of the indirect pathways from SES and depressive symptoms to children's socio-emotional competence through self-regulation and parenting was significant. Similarly, executive function and effortful control did not mediate the relationship between parenting constructs and socio-emotional competence. The results indicated that moderate levels of depressive feelings experienced by mothers and socio-economic disadvantage presented a risk factor for self-regulation in young children through different mechanisms. These findings suggested that it is important to take precautions against adverse effects of socio-economic hardship and even relatively low levels of maternal depression.