Association Between Emotional Competence and Adjustment to Preschool: The Mediating Role of Self-Regulation

Adjustment to preschool in early childhood refers to children's successful adaptation to the preschool environment. Attitudes towards school, and therefore school achievement in the subsequent years, are directly related to the child's adjustment to preschool. Children’s emotional competence and self-regulation are two important child-level factors affecting children’s adjustment to preschool. This descriptive study aimed to explore whether self-regulation acts as a mediator between emotional competence and the preschool adjustment of children. The mediation model was evaluated using linear and hierarchical regression analyses, along with a Sobel test. A total of 628 children (294 female; 334 male) from Istanbul participated in the study. Teachers (n= 53) who had known the children for at least two months before the study provided data. The study's results indicated that emotional competence and self-regulation are significant predictors of school adjustment. Notably, self-regulation partially mediates the association between emotional competence and preschool adjustment. Consequently, there exists an indirect link between emotional competence and preschool adjustment. The study highlighted the crucial role of self-regulation in mediating the relationship between emotional competence and school adjustment in preschool children. Findings suggested that strong emotional and self-regulation skills facilitate adaptation to preschool, whereas deficiencies in these areas lead to adjustment difficulties.