The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the verbal control patterns of parents and the emotional control abilities of their young children. Two research questions were posed in this study:
I. Are there any differences in the...
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the verbal control patterns of parents and the emotional control abilities of their young children. Two research questions were posed in this study:
I. Are there any differences in the verbal control patterns of parents and the emotional control abilities of young children according to the gender and age of young children?
II. What is the relationship between the verbal control patterns of parents and the emotional control abilities of young children?
The subjects in this study were 289 young children and their parents from four different kindergartens in north Gyeongsang province.
The instrument used to evaluate the verbal control patterns of the parents was prepared by modifying Lee Jin-seong(2006)'s Questionnaire and an earlier thesis based on Cook-Gumperz(1973)'s Open-Ended Questionnaire. Sin Hyeon-suk(2005)'s Questionnaire was modified in part to assess the emotional control abilities of the young children. Her questionnaire utilized the self-control and others-control segments of Lee Byeong-rae(1997)'s Emotional Intelligence Scale, which was based on Salovey and Mayer(1990, 1996)'s studies, Goleman(1995)'s study and Saami(1990)'s study and included two additional segments. In this study, self-control and control of others were incorporated into a factor named emotional control.
SPSS 12.0 program, one of statistical analysis programs, was employed to make a statistical analysis of the collected data. A frequency analysis was implemented to find out the general characteristics of the respondents, and crosstabs, x2-test and ANOVA were carried out to find out the relationship of the young children's gender and age to the verbal control patterns of their parents and their emotional control abilities. Besides, ANOVA was utilized again to see if the verbal control patterns of the parents made any differences to the emotional control abilities of the young children. When the results of ANOVA showed any statistically significant gaps, Scheffe's post-hoc analysis was used to track the differences in more detail.
The findings of the study were as follows:
First, the gender of the young children had no impact on the verbal control patterns of their parents, and there was no link between their gender and the verbal control patterns of the parents.
Second, the young children's age exercised no influence on the verbal control patterns of the mothers, and there was no relationship between the two. In contrast, their age affected the verbal control patterns of the fathers, and their age was bound up with the verbal control patterns of the fathers, A personal control pattern was more dominant among the fathers whose children were three years old, and an imperative control pattern was more prevailing among the fathers with four-year-olds. In the event of the fathers with five-year-olds, a positive control pattern was more widespread.
Third, the gender of the young children made no difference to their emotional control abilities.
Fourth, the young children were different in emotional control abilities according to age. The age 4 and 5 groups had relatively better emotional control abilities than the age 3 group.
Fifth, the young children were better able to control their emotion when their parents had a personal verbal control pattern rather than positive one. On the other hand, imperative verbal control pattern had no impact on their emotional control abilities.