Parenting styles and Turkish children’s emotion regulation: The mediating role of parent-teacher relationships

Abstract

The current study examined the contributions of parenting styles (inductive reasoning and punishment) and parent-teacher relationships to Turkish preschool children’s emotion regulation, with a specific focus on the mediating role of parent-teacher relationship between parenting styles and children’s emotion regulation. A total of 140 preschoolers (59 girls), their parents and teachers were recruited for the current study. Children’s age ranged from 39 to 77 months (M = 62.56, SD = 8.52). All teachers (n = 10) were female and working at a state-funded school. Mothers reported on their parenting styles and teachers reported on parent-teacher relationship and children’s emotion regulation. Results from regression analysis showed that parents’ inductive reasoning was positively associated with children’s emotion regulation and parent-teacher relationship. Higher parent-teacher relationship was positively associated with higher levels of children’s emotion regulation. In addition, parent-teacher relationship mediated the association between inductive parenting and emotion regulation of children. Limitations and future directions of the current study are discussed.