An Investigation of Maternal Emotion Socialization Behaviors, Children’s Self‐ Perceptions, and Social Problem‐Solving Skills

The present study aims to investigate maternal emotion socialization, children’s selfperception, and social problem-solving skills. In addition, this study describes the association between the levels of children’s self-perception and social problem-solving skills. Research Methods: This is a quantitative study adopting a relational research design. The study group consists of 109 children aged 5--6 years, attending preschool in Kirklareli city center in the 2014--2015 school year, and their mothers. “The Coping with Children‘s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES),”; “Demoulin Self Perception Test for Children,”; “Wally Social Problem-Solving Test (WSPST),” and a Personal Information Form were used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed through the SPSS 20.0 package program. Findings: The results of the current study demonstrated that there was a positive and high association between the total scores of children’s self-perception and social problem-solving skills. As a result of the study, it was concluded that mothers’ supportive and unsupportive reactions could not statistically explain their children’s self-perception level and social problem-solving skills. Implications for Research and Practice: The results suggest that children’s solving problems with their peers or with the individuals in their immediate environment by developing adequate strategies enables them to adopt a positive attitude about their self-perception. In addition, further studies on the process of children’s emotion socialization can contribute to the relevant literature by investigating variables such as children’s disposition, cultural traits, the social context in which they live, and socio-economic status of their family.