The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of mother's parenting style and children's temperament, mediated by emotional regulation and aggression, on children's peer competence. Subjects of this study were composed of 348 children, who a...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of mother's parenting style and children's temperament, mediated by emotional regulation and aggression, on children's peer competence. Subjects of this study were composed of 348 children, who attended 9 kindergartens located in the Chungbuk area, and their mothers and class teachers. The theoretical model was specified and estimated based on previous literature. The model was tested through analysis of correlational matrix in LISREL VIII package using a maximum likelihood estimation.
The results were as follows:
First, there were statistically significant differences in mother's parenting styles including supportive and controlling styles, children's temperament including adaptability and activity, children's emotional regulation, aggression, and peer competence according to demographic variables. Mothers with Bachelor degree showed more supportive parenting than those without, and their children were more competent with their peer than those having mothers with high school diploma. Working mothers presented more supportive parenting than mothers who did not work, and their children were also less aggressive than those having mothers without their jobs. Additionally, boys showed higher activity and aggression compared with girls. Boys also presented lower degree of emotional regulation and of peer competence than that girls did.
Second, the direct and indirect effect of mothers' parenting styles, children's emotional regulation and aggression on peer competence were different according to children's gender. Of boys, both supportive and controlling parenting had a direct impact on emotional regulation. Those parenting styles also indirectly predicted boys' peer competence, mediated by emotional regulation and aggression. By contrast, in case of grils, mother's supportive parenting was the only direct predictor of their children's emotional regulation. Grils' emotional regulation also directly affected their peer competence. Mother's controlling parenting had a direct impact on girls' aggression. However, for girls, both their emotional regulation and aggression did not mediate the impact of their mother's parenting styles on their peer competence.
Third, the direct and indirect effect of children's temperament, emotional regulation, and aggression on peer competence were also different from children's gender. Boys' emotional regulation was directly predicted by their activity and adaptability of temperament. Their activity temperament had an indirect effect on their aggression mediated by emotional regulation as well, but it did not affect their peer competence through any mediating effect. In case of girls, both their activity and adaptability of temperament were the variables directly predicting their emotional regulation. Girls' temperament, mediated by their emotional regulation and aggression, also predicted their own peer competence.