The Predictive Role of Emotion Regulation and Parental Attitudes in Psychological Resilience of Preschool Children

This study aims to examine the relationships among emotion regulation skills, parenting attitudes, and psychological resilience in children aged 36 to 72 months during the preschool period. The research was conducted with 245 children attending various preschool institutions in Ankara, using a correlational research design, and the data were analyzed through hierarchical regression analysis. The findings revealed statistically significant relationships between children's psychological resilience and both their parents' attitudes and their emotion regulation skills. In particular, democratic parenting attitudes and positive emotion regulation skills were positively associated with psychological resilience. On the other hand, authoritarian and overprotective parenting attitudes, as well as negative emotion regulation, were found to be negatively associated with psychological resilience. Moreover, children’s emotion regulation skills were found to significantly predict various subdimensions of psychological resilience. For example, emotion regulation accounted for 20.4% of the variance in self-control, 15.3% in task orientation, 24.5% in emotional stability, 7.9% in assertiveness, 11.5% in communication, and 8.3% in enjoyment of exploration. These findings indicate that parenting styles and children's ability to regulate emotions play a decisive role in supporting psychological resilience during early childhood.